WO2006137920A2 - Systeme de declenchement photonique de materiaux nanoenergetiques - Google Patents

Systeme de declenchement photonique de materiaux nanoenergetiques Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2006137920A2
WO2006137920A2 PCT/US2005/038557 US2005038557W WO2006137920A2 WO 2006137920 A2 WO2006137920 A2 WO 2006137920A2 US 2005038557 W US2005038557 W US 2005038557W WO 2006137920 A2 WO2006137920 A2 WO 2006137920A2
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
product
metal
photonic source
photonic
energetic material
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2005/038557
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English (en)
Other versions
WO2006137920A3 (fr
Inventor
Dennis Eugene Wilson
Kurt A. Schroder
Original Assignee
Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Nanotechnologies, Inc. filed Critical Nanotechnologies, Inc.
Publication of WO2006137920A2 publication Critical patent/WO2006137920A2/fr
Publication of WO2006137920A3 publication Critical patent/WO2006137920A3/fr

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C06—EXPLOSIVES; MATCHES
    • C06C—DETONATING OR PRIMING DEVICES; FUSES; CHEMICAL LIGHTERS; PYROPHORIC COMPOSITIONS
    • C06C9/00—Chemical contact igniters; Chemical lighters
    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C06—EXPLOSIVES; MATCHES
    • C06B—EXPLOSIVES OR THERMIC COMPOSITIONS; MANUFACTURE THEREOF; USE OF SINGLE SUBSTANCES AS EXPLOSIVES
    • C06B33/00—Compositions containing particulate metal, alloy, boron, silicon, selenium or tellurium with at least one oxygen supplying material which is either a metal oxide or a salt, organic or inorganic, capable of yielding a metal oxide
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F42—AMMUNITION; BLASTING
    • F42B—EXPLOSIVE CHARGES, e.g. FOR BLASTING, FIREWORKS, AMMUNITION
    • F42B3/00—Blasting cartridges, i.e. case and explosive
    • F42B3/10—Initiators therefor
    • F42B3/113—Initiators therefor activated by optical means, e.g. laser, flashlight

Definitions

  • the invention relates to the initiation of energetic material such as propellants, explosives, and pyrotechniques.
  • Detonators, ignitors, air bag initiators or electric matches as shown in prior art Figures 1-4 are often used to ignite explosive materials.
  • Most commercial ignitors, detonators, and electric matches generally use lead-based material (such as lead thiocyanate, lead nitroresorcinate, lead styphnate, and lead tetroxide) or toxic materials (such as perchlorates) in their composition.
  • lead-based material such as lead thiocyanate, lead nitroresorcinate, lead styphnate, and lead tetroxide
  • toxic materials such as perchlorates
  • One disadvantage of using such materials is that they constitute a health hazard to both users and the environment.
  • these compounds continue to be used in ignitor formulations because a small diameter resistive bridgewire or semiconducting bridgewire can reliably initiate them.
  • the practice of using an ignitor with a bridgewire to initiate these compounds is also disadvantageous in that it is susceptible to accidental or premature electrostatic discharge
  • shock tube to replace the electric detonators and blasting caps for many applications.
  • the shock tube transmits a shock wave along with hot particles and gases to a pyrotechnic or explosive receptor in a blasting cap.
  • the detonation is confined to the tube along its length and produces output only from the open end. In this way, the shock tube acts as a signal transmission device.
  • shock tubes are becoming widely accepted in the field of commercial blasting, military demolition, seismic exploration and law enforcement as well as being adapted for use in fireworks under the trademark, NOMATCHTM (B&C Products).
  • NOMATCHTM B&C Products
  • the primary reason for the popularity of the shock tubes in the energetics field has been their inherent safety and ease of use.
  • a widely used type of shock tube is the style based on a device described in United
  • the '739 Patent describes a small diameter plastic tube with an explosive powder coated on the inside.
  • the tube can be SURL YN® material (Dupont) with an ID of about 1 mm and OD of about 3 mm, other plastics and multilayered plastics are also used to improve workability, durability, and abrasion resistance.
  • the explosive can be 90% HMX plus 10% stearic acid coated flake aluminum. Other explosives such as PETN, RDX, and TNT are sometimes used.
  • the air in the tube provides part of the oxygen needed for combustion.
  • the output is a high-pressure pulse (7 - 27 MPa for 20 - 50 ⁇ s at a temperature of 2000 - 2500 0 K) composed primarily of gaseous CO 2 , NO x , H 2 O, and solid hot particles OfAl 2 O 3 .
  • the shock tubes are relatively electrostatically insensitive by virtue of their lack of electrical conductivity. While they are generally considered to have good mechanical stability, a sharp blow to the tubes, or a bend around too small a radius, can cause firing problems to the shock tubes.
  • this device still uses a high-powered laser and tries to minimize the energy required through modifications of the housing. Therefore, the existing art does not provide an ignition system that uses environmentally benign chemicals, is resistant to accidental initiation, has precise timing, is mechanically robust and uses moderate energy.
  • United States Patent No. 4,898,095 describes a laser-detonatable blasting cap in which the energetic material is mixed with a laser beam-absorbing material such as carbon black in order increase the energy coupling between the laser and the energetic material. This enables the use of lower power lasers for the optical initiation of energetic material.
  • nanoaluminum powder in the late 1980s by Los Alamos National laboratory (LANL), and superthermites or Metastable Intermolecular Composites (MIC) in the 1990s, which are generally nanoaluminum based, also at LANL, has allowed the possibility of a new class of materials for the initiation of primary energetic compounds.
  • MIC Metastable Intermolecular Composites
  • nanomaterials are considered to be materials which have at least one dimension that is nanoscale where nanoscale is considered to be less than 200nm and more preferably less than lOOnm.
  • MIC can comprise a mixture of a nanometal powder and a solid oxidizer with other possible additives depending on the application.
  • MIC materials may be a nanometal powder such as nanoaluminum powder mixed with MoO 3 , Bi 2 O 3 , or CuO.
  • Other nanoaluminum based energetic materials may use Polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) as an oxidizer.
  • PTFE Polytetrafluorethylene
  • a more generic name encompassing all energetic materials in which at least one component is nanoscale in at least one dimension is referred to as a "nanoenergetic" material.
  • PTFE Polytetrafluorethylene
  • a more generic name encompassing all energetic materials in which at least one component is nanoscale in at least one dimension is referred to as a "nanoenergetic" material.
  • the typical energetic material is organic, these new materials can be and generally are completely inorganic.
  • the ingredients, as well as the products, of a MIC reaction are generally low in toxicity as compared to other primary ignition materials.
  • MIC reactions are generally characterized as having high-energy content, high temperatures of reaction, minimal net gas generation
  • Prior Art Figure 1 is a typical electric match which includes the lacquer coating, high resistance bridgewire, pyrotechnic composition, non-conductive substrate, copperfoil, solder and leg wire.
  • Prior Art Figure 2 is a typical detonator, which includes on the coaxial structure, an electrode, epoxy seal, ferrite bead, glass seal, crimp closure, bridgewire, first
  • Prior Art Figure 3 is a typical airbag initiator which includes leading wires, closure plug, anti-static spurs, protective sleeve, bridge-wire, fusehead, delay element, initiating charge and base charge.
  • Prior Art Figure 4 is a typical ammunition round showing primer.
  • the current invention is a novel system and method to be used to initiate an energetic composition that may undergo combustion, deflagration or detonation and eliminates many of the problems associated with electrically-initiated devices such as electric bridge wires, impact-initiated devices such as percussion primers, and shock initiated devices such as shock tubes and laser operated devices.
  • the initiation system can be used for igniters, initiators, v. detonators or replacement for percussion ammunition primers.
  • An embodiment of the invention comprises a nanoenergetic material and a pulsed radiation (i.e., photonic) source that initiates the combustion of such material.
  • a window which is transparent to at least a portion of the emission from the photonic source, may separate the photonic source from the mixture
  • FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical prior art electric match.
  • Figure 2 is a diagram of a prior art typical detonator.
  • Figure 3 is a diagram of a typical prior art airbag initiator.
  • Figure 4 is a diagram of a typical prior art ammunition round showing primer.
  • Figure 5 is a diagram of an embodiment of the invention.
  • Figure 6 is a diagram of another embodiment of the invention.
  • the current invention is in part enabled by a new class of materials referred to nanoenergetic compositions or Metastable Intermolecular Composites (MIC). It has been found that the initiation of these self-reacting energetic materials and certain nanometals can be photonically initiated. That is, a brief, intense pulse of light can initiate the combustion of these materials. This attribute is enabled in part, by the unique physical attributes of nanoscale materials. Nanoscale materials, such as nanopowders, have a dramatically higher surface area to volume ratio than materials in bulk or micron form allowing them to absorb dramatically more energy per unit mass when irradiated. Furthermore, if the nanoscale material is a metal, it is generally very absorptive of light.
  • MIC Metastable Intermolecular Composites
  • nanoscale material tends to stay hot for an extended period of time over larger scale materials. This increases the reactivity of the nanomaterial.
  • a nanomaterial is absorbent and is irradiated with an intense, short pulse of light, it can be heated up to a very high temperature with very little energy. When it is heated up, it can react more readily.
  • nanocomposite mixtures of combustible materials have dramatically lower activation energies than micron-sized mixtures. This unique combination of properties allows the material to readily absorb photons, which consequently rapidly heats them causing them to react.
  • the by-products are typically environmentally benign, such as alumina, and they can be tailored to have a significant or even little to no gas generation.
  • the combination of the above attributes makes a nanoenergetic material more amenable to photonic initiation than previous compositions.
  • a nanoscale unreactive material such as carbon black in a pyrotechnique composition in order to make it more sensitive to radiation.
  • the heated unreactive material must transfer its energy to both reactants in intimate contact (e.g. both the oxidizer and the reducer) to initiate a pyrotechnique composition. Since it indiscriminately transfers its energy to all of its surroundings, more energy is required for initiation.
  • one of the reactants (fuel or/and oxidizer) is the absorber of the radiation. In this case, it need only heat the other component of the reaction (oxidizer and/or fuel). This significantly lowers the power threshold for initiation by irradiation.
  • FIG. 5 An embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 5. It comprises a nanoenergetic material 501 contained within a housing 505 and sealed on top by cap 504. The combustion of nanoenergetics material 501 is initiated by a photonic source 503. A window 502, is transparent to at least a portion of the emission from the photonic source separating it from the mixture.
  • the nanoenergetic material may be electrically isolated from the radiation source and furthermore may be hermetically sealed.
  • the radiation source may be ultraviolet, visible, infrared, or other wavelengths, or be a broad spectrum and may be emitted by a laser, LED, strobe flash, blackbody source, such as a bridgewire, or other means to generate photons.
  • the transparent window may be composed of acrylic, polycarbonate, glass, or other material that passes radiation from the photonic source and also forms into a lens to focus the radiation onto the nanoenergetic material.
  • the current invention is further illustrated by the following example, hi this example, the combustion of nanoaluminum powder in air was initiated from the flash of a common photographic camera (Studio 35 Single Use Camera [27 exposures], which is distributed by Walgreen Co, Deerfield, IL 60015-4681) at a distance of up to about 5 cm.
  • a self propagating combustion of passivated, 50 run loose aluminum powder was initiated in air by radiating as little as 10 W from a Xenon flashlamp for about 100 microseconds and in the process depositing about 1 mJ of energy through a 1 mm diameter glass ball lens placed on top of the powder.
  • Photoinitiation has been also demonstrated with 120 nm loose aluminum powder with the same disposable camera. Furthermore, photoinitiation with the same disposable camera has been demonstrated with a MIC (nanoaluminum and MoO3) through a bundled fiber optic cable.
  • Another embodiment of the invention can be further illustrated by the following example. Copper oxide, 25 nm powder, produced by Nanotechnologies Inc. was stoichiometrically mixed with 2-micron aluminum powder (H-2 manufactured by Valimet) in an isopropanol dispersion. The dispersion was painted onto a porous cellulose substrate and dried with a heat gun. A 1 mm diameter glass ball was placed on top of the trace. The energetic material was initiated by the same disposable camera described above at a distance of about 1 cm. Here, the nano CuO, which is black, was the nanoscale reactant instead of the aluminum. By substituting the 2-micron aluminum with nanoscale aluminum, the energy threshold required to initiate the material can be further reduced. Another embodiment of the invention is shown in Fig. 6.
  • the invention may further comprise a pyrogen material 606, which is adjacent to the nanoenergetic material 601.
  • the pyrogen material 606 may be a primary explosive such as lead azide, HMX, TNT, OCTOL; an energetic material such as aluminum, thermite; or combustible materials such as hydrocarbon liquid and fuels.
  • a primary explosive such as lead azide, HMX, TNT, OCTOL
  • an energetic material such as aluminum, thermite
  • combustible materials such as hydrocarbon liquid and fuels.
  • the specific energy content of the nanoenergetic material utilized in the present invention is much higher and generates a much higher temperature. The result is that the nanoenergetic material can ignite a much broader array of pyrogen materials.
  • the nanoenergetic materials 601 may further be contained in a housing 605 or other similar device and is ignited by photonic source 603.
  • the housing provides an environmental seal and protects the energetic materials from the surrounding environment.
  • the housing further provides mechanical integrity to the device. It may further be a cylinder and composed of metal, plastic, glass, polymeric resin or other material than provides structural integrity.
  • the housing may be capped at the top 604 to provide a seal for the energetic materials and on the bottom with a transparent window 602.
  • the nanoenergetic material 501 and 601 is comprised of at least a metal intermixed with a reaction agent, such as, but not limited to, an oxidizer or reducer. Additionally the metal and/or the reaction agent is nanometer in scale (at least in one direction) and highly absorptive.
  • the nanometal may be, but is not limited to, one of the following materials: aluminum, zirconium, B, Mg, Si, Ti, Cr, Fe, Zn, Y, Sn, Ta, W, Bi, and combinations thereof.
  • the reaction agent may be an oxidizer; such as molytrioxide, bismuth oxide, (tin-oxide, copper oxide, etc.) such that the combination with the nanomaterial forms a thermitic reaction.
  • the combination of material compositions and material size can be varied to adjust the specific energy output and the specific power output.
  • smaller nanoaluminum, 50nm will react much faster than larger, 120nm aluminum.
  • changing the size of the oxidizer will affect the reaction rate similarly.
  • the specific power output can be tailored to the application.
  • the burn rate of the nanoenergetics material can be varied by orders of magnitude from approximately 1 cm/s to 1 km/s. This allows precise timing of the delay such that the amount of delay required can be adjusted.
  • a shock tube can also be used.
  • One of the aspects of a shock tube is that they can become damaged which significantly reduces the pressure wave that propagates through the tube and hence causes problems initiating the detonator.
  • a shock tube does produce a high amount of photons, even if the pressure wave is substantially reduced. Consequently, the current invention when used with a shock tube eliminates this problem.

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  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Chemical Kinetics & Catalysis (AREA)
  • General Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Optics & Photonics (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Materials Engineering (AREA)
  • Metallurgy (AREA)
  • Physical Or Chemical Processes And Apparatus (AREA)
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Abstract

L'invention concerne une réaction chimique à auto-propagation d'un matériau nanoénergétique qui est déclenché par la fluence de photons. Le matériau nanoénergétique peut contenir un nanométal sous forme d'un combustible et un matériau d'oxydation solide.
PCT/US2005/038557 2004-10-25 2005-10-25 Systeme de declenchement photonique de materiaux nanoenergetiques WO2006137920A2 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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US62181904P 2004-10-25 2004-10-25
US60/621,819 2004-10-25

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WO2006137920A2 true WO2006137920A2 (fr) 2006-12-28
WO2006137920A3 WO2006137920A3 (fr) 2007-03-22

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Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2010034731A1 (fr) * 2008-09-26 2010-04-01 Thales Propulseur a combustible nano-energetique
US20150211326A1 (en) * 2014-01-30 2015-07-30 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions
WO2015116261A1 (fr) * 2014-01-30 2015-08-06 Olympic Research, Inc. Scellement hermétique de puits par réactions aluminothermiques
US9394757B2 (en) 2014-01-30 2016-07-19 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN110468293A (zh) * 2019-09-26 2019-11-19 河南科技大学 一种含铝黄铜合金的制备方法

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5606146A (en) * 1991-10-08 1997-02-25 The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Department Of Energy Energetic composites and method of providing chemical energy

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US5606146A (en) * 1991-10-08 1997-02-25 The United States Of America As Represented By The United States Department Of Energy Energetic composites and method of providing chemical energy

Cited By (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2010034731A1 (fr) * 2008-09-26 2010-04-01 Thales Propulseur a combustible nano-energetique
US20150211326A1 (en) * 2014-01-30 2015-07-30 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions
WO2015116261A1 (fr) * 2014-01-30 2015-08-06 Olympic Research, Inc. Scellement hermétique de puits par réactions aluminothermiques
US9228412B2 (en) 2014-01-30 2016-01-05 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions
US9394757B2 (en) 2014-01-30 2016-07-19 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions
US9494011B1 (en) 2014-01-30 2016-11-15 Olympic Research, Inc. Well sealing via thermite reactions

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