Synergistic enhancement of thermite reaction by fluororubber and pseudo-oxygen(–2) anion

ZnO-based thermites have garnered significant attention owing to their unique advantages in various applications. Given the limited activation of nano-Al and low energetic density of Al/ZnO, a pseudooxide ZnNCN were investigated to replace ZnO as novel oxidizer with the fluororubber encapsulated nano-Al to assemble a novel thermite system of Al@F2311/ZnNCN. In this work, the new aluminothermic reaction between Al@F2311 and ZnNCN was explored systematically and compared with Al/ZnNCN, Al@F2311/ZnO and Al/ZnO. Their structure, morphology and energetic performance was investigated by employing X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectrophotometry (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) techniques and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the combustion behaviors was studied by high-speed camera. It is found that energy release of Al@F2311/ZnNCN reached to 1431.6 J·g −1 accompanied by intense burning flames. Moreover, a large amount of gas produced in the aluminothermic reaction between Al@F2311 and ZnNCN. It is indicated that the ZnNCN with high nitrogen content displayed as oxide in the thermite composite show better metastable characteristics and it is expected to be applied in fields such as airbags. Besides, the metal nitrides such as AlN were obtained following a self-propagating route within seconds, providing new possible for the preparation of ceramic nitrides under air atmosphere.