Role of microstructure in initiation of Ni–Al reactive multilayers

Through molecular dynamics simulations, the effects of microstructure on reaction initiation are studied in nickel-aluminum (Ni–Al) reactive multilayers. Ni–Al multilayer systems of varying misfit strain and layer thickness are created and the ignition temperature is estimated by heating and thermalizing over small temperature increments until a reaction is observed. Results show that ignition temperatures drop significantly with increasing misfit strain. Our results indicate that the sensitivity of reactive multilayers can be controlled, in part, by microstructure, with changes of the order of 350 K.