Research on the Impact Initiation Behavior of PTFE/Al/Ni₂O₃ Reactive Materials

PTFE/Al reactive material is an energetic material that releases energy under impact conditions, resulting in a wide range of application prospects. In order to improve its damage ability-considering the higher heat of the reaction per unit mass when Ni₂O₃ is involved in the aluminothermic reaction-we designed and studied PTFE/Al/Ni₂O₃, a reaction material based on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). We also designed two other kinds (PTFE/Al, PTFE/Al/CuO) for comparative study, with the mass fraction of the metal oxides added at 10%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. The quasi-static compression properties and impact initiation behavior of the material were investigated by a universal material testing machine and a drop hammer test. The reaction process of different materials under a high strain rate was recorded using a high-speed camera. The results show that with the increase in Ni₂O₃ content, the strength of the PTFE/Al/Ni₂O₃ reactive material shows an increasing trend followed by a decreasing trend. Among the three reactive materials, when the content of Al/Ni₂O₃ reaches 30 wt.%, the reaction duration is the longest (at 4 ms) and the reaction fireball is the largest. The addition of Ni₂O₃ is helpful to improve the reactivity and reaction duration of the PTEF/Al reactive material.