Improving the Combustion Efficiency of Aluminum-Based Composite, Al@IL/FG, Through Surface Activation Reaction

Low combustion efficiency is a challenge of aluminum (Al) particles in solid propellants, especially in small solid rocket motors. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the combustion performance of Al to improve the energy release of solid propellants. Here, a core–shell structured Al-based composite Al@IL/FG with high combustion efficiency has been prepared through ionic liquid (IL) and fluorinated graphene (FG) coating. It is seen that IL can form a smooth coating layer on the surface of Al particles and encapsulate fluorinated graphene inside the coating layer. Thermal analysis results show that the coating layer can lower the reaction temperature of Al in the solid propellants due to the surface activation reaction between the Al and IL/FG. After substituting Al@IL/FG with Al, the residual Al content in the condensed combustion products of solid propellants decreased by 11.37%. In addition, compared with Al-based propellant, the d (0.5) of condensed combustion products of Al@IL/FG-based solid propellant was reduced from 69.157 to 21.559 μm. These results indicate that Al@IL/FG has a higher combustion efficiency than Al in solid propellants.