Synthesis and characterization of granular and hydrophobic film structure of pyrotechnic/thermite materials

The aim of this thesis is to develop and characterization of granular and film pyrotechnics materials. Pyrotechnic materials are flammable which can ignite faster than other energetic material such as explosive and propellant and therefore they are highly sensitive to external effects (friction, impact etc). In this study, Aluminium metal and Boron semi-metal were used as fuel and different metal oxides (Copper (II) Oxide, Iron (III) Oxide and Molybdenum Oxide) were used as oxidizer in all pyrotechnic mixing. Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) was used that has good thermal and chemical stability and also high hydrophocity level as binder. The result showed that the film pyrotechnic materials ignited 100-250 ºC earlier than the granular pyrotechnics due to PVDF's reactive structure. It was determined the solid burned product of granular pyrotechnics depending on their equvailence ratio and it was observed that as the equivalence ratio come close to stoichiometry, thermite reactions are more efficient and accordingly the solid burned product value increases between 1.65 and 4.4 times. The calorific value of all pyrotechnic mixtures were measured from 438 to 1008 cal/g depending on various oxidizer and fuel type, different equivalence ratio (from 1.5 to 12.5) and binder effect. It was seen that equivalence ratio is more affected on calorific value of pyrotechnics. Static contact angle test was performed for PVDF binder and according to this result, it was shown that the film pyrotechnics are hydrophobic. Keywords: Pyrotechnic/Thermite Material, Hydrophobic, Film/Granular Materials, Calorific Value, PVDF, Equivalence Ratio