Electrophoretic Deposition and Characterization of an Al/CuO Energetic Film with a Porous Hollow Microsphere Structure

In this work, an Al/CuO energetic film with a porous hollow structure was obtained by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) from an aqueous solution at low field strengths of 20 V cm −2 instead of from organic solvents. CuO porous hollow microspheres (PHMSs) were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method. The shape of the CuO PHMSs was very uniform at the macroscale with a size of 5 μm. To codeposit the species during the EPD process, the nano-Al particles and CuO PHMSs were modified with acrylic acid and citric acid, respectively. The nano-Al particles were deposited on the surface or in the interior of the CuO PHMSs by an electrical field and formed Al/CuO PHMS composites. The chemical composition, morphology, heat release and combustion of the as-prepared composite coating films were analyzed by XRD, FESEM, FT-IR, EDS, TG-DSC and with a high-speed camera. The heat release of the Al/CuO porous thermite reached 3804 J/g with excellent combustion performance due to the novel microstructure and appropriate modifications.