Shock Induced Chemical Reactions of Intermetallic Mixture of Nickel and Aluminum and Associated Transition States

Abstract

In this paper, numerical simulation of shock-induced chemical reactions of intermetallic mixtures is discussed. Specifically, the paper focuses on intermetallic mixture of nickel and aluminum. To initiate the chemical reactions, the thermal input or the shockwave should supply the energy to take the reactants, mixture of nickel and aluminum, to the transition state. Thus, for any numerical simulation or analysis of the shock or thermally induced chemical reaction in a continuum scale or a meso scale, it is necessary to identify the transition state. The transition state for the intermetallic mixture of nickel and the aluminum is identified in this paper and a result of the numerical simulation of the shock-induced chemical reaction, in a continuum scale is presented. The numerical solutions clearly show the chemical reactions, release of heat energy, increase of the temperature and the formation of products, following the transition state and the resulting shock-induced chemical reaction of a binary intermetallic energetic mixture of nickel and aluminum. The studies also show that the collapse of porosity is a mechanism that takes the reactants to the transition state, in shock-induced chemical reactions of binary intermetallic mixtures.