Preparation of Al/B/Fe₂O₃ nano-composite energetic materials by high energy ball milling

In order to reduce the acidic impurity of B₂O₃ and H₃BO₃ on the surface of amorphous boron powder and improve the efficiency in the use of boron powder, sodium hydroxide(NaOH) was firstly used to modify the amorphous boron. Then the orthogonal experiment was carried out to optimize the parameters of high energy ball milling for the formation of the Al/B composite. On the basis of Al/B binary nano-composite, the Al/B/Fe₂O₃ nano-composite energetic materials were prepared through the high energy ball milling. X-Ray Diffraction(XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy(SEM), Differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of composite materials. The results show the content of boron element on the surface of boron particles is increased by 15%, and the influencing order of parameters on the average particle diameter of the composite is as follows: milling time>milling speed>quantity ratio of Al to B>weight ratio of ball to powder. And the optimal HEBM parameters are milling time 12 h, ball-to-powders ratio 20:1, milling speed 300 r/min respectively. The macro-particle size of Al/B/Fe₂O₃ nano-composite is 3.89 μm, with the increasing content of the boron in the Al/B/Fe₂O₃ composite, the exothermic heat also increases.