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ISSN Print: 2150-766X
ISSN Online: 2150-7678
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NANOCRYSTALLIZATION OF ENERGETIC MATERIALS BY SPRAY FLASH EVAPORATION FOR EXPLOSIVES AND PROPELLANTS
ABSTRACT
Nanostructuring of materials is becoming increasingly important in all scientific and industrial fields. Explosives, priming formulations, propellants, whether used in small or in very large amounts, are fully concerned. Explosives, thermite mixtures, propellants, boosters, and their combinations were nanostructured to enhance the performances of existing micron-sized products, often in a disruptive way. Higher performance means higher combustion kinetics with enhanced power density, but also means the possibility of decreasing sensitivity without decreasing priming power. On the other hand, the use of nanomaterials allows designing smart energetic materials by adjusting the structures of these materials at nanoscale. For instance, the high potential of nanoengineering energetic materials has led to the development of hybrid energetic nanomaterials, which are promising candidates to replace primary explosives containing heavy metals. The future energetic materials used in systems such as explosive charges, detonators, or propellants will have a function "by design." They will have all at once higher performance and lower impact on the environment than conventional energetic materials. The advances in the field of nanomaterial continuous engineering now make it possible not only to design miniaturized detonating systems, but also to develop larger energetic charges and nanostructured propellants as the production capacity is increased thanks to up-scaled facilities. An example of the continuous nanostructuring method is the spray flash evaporation (SFE) process developed at NS3E laboratory to produce nanostructured energetic materials. This article describes this process and its use for preparing energetic nanomaterials such as explosives, oxidizers, and propellants in the state of submicron- to nanosized powders. It also deals with cutting-edge techniques, which are necessary to understand how SFE works and to characterize the composite nanoparticles prepared by this process.
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