Effect of thermal process on the properties of Al/Fe₂O₃ nano-thermites

The Al/Fe₂O₃ nano-thermites were prepared by sol-gel method using FeCl₃·6H₂O as precursor. The effects of calcination temperature and calcination time on the crystal structure and thermal performance of Al/Fe₂O₃ nano-thermites were investigated by XRD and TGA/DSC. The results show that, in the same calcination time, the crystal grain size of Al decreases with increasing the calcination temperature, and the heat releases of the nano-thermites solid-solid reaction first increases and then decreases. At the same calcination temperature, the mass loss decreases to 2.2% with the calcination time increasing, while there is a 30% increase in heat releases of the nano-thermites. The optimal calcinaion temperature and time were 300°C and 5h, respectively.