Pressure loss and compensation in the combustion process of Al–CuO nanoenergetics on a microheater chip

This study investigates pressure loss and compensation in the combustion process of Al–CuO metastable intermolecular composite (MIC) on a microheater chip. A ball cell model of pressure change in the combustion process is proposed to show the effects of pressure loss on the reaction rate and efficiency of energy output at microscale. An effective compensation method for pressure loss is then developed by integrating Al–CuO MIC with CL-20 (2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane) onto a SiO2/Cr/Pt/Au microheater chip. The combustion processes of Al–CuO MIC with different weight percentages of fine CL-20 particles on the microheater chips are observed by high-speed video recording. Results indicate that the reaction of Al–CuO MIC is a slow combustion process that turns into intense deflagration after adding fine CL-20 particles to Al–CuO MIC. The pressure–time characteristics indicate higher maximum pressure and pressurization rate for Al–CuO/CL-20 because the pressure loss at microscale is well compensated by the addition of fine CL-20. This study proves the importance of pressure loss in the combustion process of MIC at microscale and provides an efficient compensation strategy for pressure loss to improve the reaction rate and efficiency of energy output at microscale environment.