Facile Preparation of Micrometer KClO₄/Zr Energetic Composite Particles with Enhanced Light Radiation

Developing energetic composite materials consisting of fuel and oxidizer is an effective strategy to enhance the energy release property. However, this strategy has rarely been applied in Potassium Perchlorate (KClO₄)-containing energetic materials, even though KClO₄ is a much stronger oxidizer than most previously reported metal-oxide oxidizer. One of the main obstacles is the lack of simple and in situ ways to introduce KClO₄ into the composite. In present work, micrometer KClO₄/Zirconium (KClO₄/Zr) composite particles were successfully prepared using a facile chemical solution-deposition method. The structure and particle morphologies of as-obtained KClO₄/Zr composite were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscope (SEM)-EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectrometer). The evolutionary combustion behavior was evaluated using flame-based light-radiation spectra and successive photography technique. Results showed that the morphology, light-radiation properties and flame-evolution characteristics of KClO₄/Zr composite varied with the content of KClO₄ and the particle size of Zr. Compared with the mechanical mixture of KClO₄/Zr, the KClO₄/Zr composite showed much higher light-radiation intensity and longer light-emission duration time after reasonably controlling the preparation parameters. Flame photographs revealed that the enhanced light radiation of KClO₄/Zr composite should be ascribed to higher use efficiency of "oxygen" in the oxidizer, which promoted both the solid⁻solid and solid⁻gas reaction pathways between KClO₄ and Zr.