Deposition of nickel nanoparticles onto aluminum powders using a modified polyol process

Aluminum is commonly used as fuel additive for propellants. The main limitation to its use lies in comparatively slow ignition and oxidation/combustion kinetics. Combustion performance of aluminized propellants can be improved through the use of Ni-coated Al particles. Nanoparticles, with its increased reactivity, also improve combustion performance. Hence, in this work, nano-sized Ni particles coated onto commercially available micron-sized Al powders using a modified polyol process were synthesized and evaluated. Ni-coated Al powders of various compositions produced by this method showed significant improvement in the oxidation kinetics as compared to untreated Al powders. The onset oxidation temperatures for the Ni-coated Al powders were found to be significantly reduced as compared to pure untreated Al. Other than the oxides, the intermetallic compound, Al₃Ni was also detected in the 10 wt% Ni-Al powders that were heated to temperature above 1050 °C.