RESUMEN
The influence of short-term (5-15 min) highly energetic ball milling on the ignition characteristics of a gasless heterogeneous Ni-Al reactive system has been investigated. By using Al-Ni clad particles (30-40 microm diameter Al spheres coated by a 3-3.5 microm layer of Ni, that corresponds to a 1:1 Ni/Al atomic ratio), it was shown that such mechanical treatment leads to a significant decrease in the self-ignition temperature of the system. For example, after 15 min of ball milling, the ignition temperature appears to be approximately 600 K, well below the eutectic (913 K) in the considered binary system, which is the ignition temperature for the initial clad particles. Thus, it was demonstrated that the thermal explosion process for mechanically treated reactive media can be solely defined by solid-state reactions. Additionally, thermal analysis measurements revealed that mechanical activation results in a substantial decrease in the effective activation energy (from 84 to 28 kcal/mol) of interaction between Al and Ni. This effect, that is, mechanical activation of chemical reaction, is connected to a substantial increase of contact area between reactive particles and fresh interphase boundaries formed in an inert atmosphere during ball milling. It is also important that by varying the time of mechanical activation one can precisely control the ignition temperature in high-density energetic heterogeneous systems.
RESUMEN
A novel apparatus for joining carbon-carbon (C-C) composites is presented. This device was designed and built based on the concept of self-sustained oxygen-free high-temperature reactions. A layer of reactive mixture is contained between two disks of C-C composite that are to be joined. The stack is held in place between two electrodes, which are connected to a dc power supply. dc current is used to uniformly initiate the reaction in the reactive layer. The electrodes are also part of the pneumatic system, which applies a load to the stack. The designed hydraulic system is effective, lending to low cost and simplified, rapid, accurate operation. It provides a very short response time ( approximately 10 ms), which is important for the considered applications. All operational parameters such as initial and final loads, applied current, delay time between ignition and final load application, duration of Joule heating, and safety interlocks are controlled by a programable logic controller system. These features make it an efficient, user-friendly and safe machine to join refractory materials. The entire joining process takes place on the order of seconds, rather than hours as required for solid-state joining methods. The mechanical properties of the obtained joints are higher than those for the C-C composites.
