The dynamic transformation of catalysts under thermal stimuli presents a promising yet underexplored strategy for modulating solid propellant reactions. This study proposes a thermal pretreatment protocol to reconstruct Al/Ni energetic composites and investigates their catalytic efficacy on ammonium perchlorate (AP) decomposition. Novel composite formulations were fabricated via an integrated procedure involving liquid-phase dispersion and thermal treatment at 400 °C. Characterization results reveal that thermal pretreatment triggers significant microstructural reconstruction to form a continuous interfacial layer and new crystalline phases including NiO and AlCl 3 . This microstructural evolution indicates vigorous solid-gas reactions during the activation process. Compared to pure AP, the reconstructed composite (R/AP) significantly increases the decomposition enthalpy by 84% from 1190 to 2192 J/g. It also lowers the high-temperature decomposition peak by over 23 °C and narrows the reaction temperature window by 54.9 °C. Kinetic analysis demonstrates that R/AP exhibits superior kinetic stability, evidenced by a minimal shift in decomposition temperature of 28 °C under varying heating rates and an exceptionally stable low-temperature activation energy ranging from 75.2 to 78.0 kJ/mol. Furthermore, bomb calorimetry testing shows the heat of reaction of R/AP reaches 5187.3 J/g, exceeding that of pure AP by 32%. The decomposition mechanism is found to evolve from well-defined models for pure AP to complex hybrid mechanisms for the composites. This work underscores that thermal pre-activation is a potent strategy to programmatically tailor both the energy release and kinetic characteristics of AP decomposition, offering fresh insights for designing high-performance solid propellant additives.
Xie et al. (Fri,) studied this question.