Kinetics of a Thermite Reaction: Effect of Particle Size at the Nanoscale

摘要

The kinetics of the thermite reaction between aluminum and molybdenum trioxide arernstudied with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as a function of the size of the aluminumrnparticles. Several particle sizes have been investigated ranging from 17 nm to micron size.rnDynamic scans are performed under argon atmosphere in alumina pans. Our findings indicaternthat the reaction occurs well before the melting of the aluminum, and more importantly, that thernreactivity depends on particle size. The findings are consistent with ignition and combustionrnstudies, which are being carried out concurrently with the DSC work.