Effects of the Total Thickness of Multilayer Thermite Materials Al-CuO on the Combustion Mode and Morphology of Reaction Products

Multilayer Al-CuO thermite materials are a prominent representative of metastable intermolecular composites, which are characterized by outstanding energy and combustion properties. In this work, we investigated the effect of the total thickness of the multilayer Al-CuO thermite material (enriched with aluminum), formed on the surface of sitall substrates, on the combustion mode and the morphology of the reaction products. High-speed video recording from different angles allowed us not only to estimate the combustion front propagation velocity, but also to visually estimate the gas evolution intensity. Using scanning electron microscopy in combination with a focused ion beam and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, the morphology and composition of the combustion products of the multilayer structures were studied. The obtained experimental data allowed us to describe three combustion modes of multilayer thermite materials in terms of the combustion front temperature and to relate this parameter to the total thickness of the multilayer structure.