Aluminum particles proximity & competition for Oxygen correlated to measurements of macroscopic flames behavior.
If you’re into Energetics, this is an all-you-can-eat buffet.
WHY THIS POST:
We got intrigued by a paper that was published earlier this year by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, in collaborations with NAVSEA Warfare Centers (NSWC/NUWC) Indian Head MD: “Burning velocity and burn time via particle image velocimetry and modeling for aluminum dust flames”, January 2026.
Authors: Vidhan Malik, Ph.D., Christopher Pfutzner, Brian Bojko, Vadim Gamezo, Michael Soo, Brian Fisher.
We’re soon uploading it our Literature webpage for Energetics: https://lnkd.in/gK7iYA23
WHAT WE LIKED:
They made a connection between measurements of macroscopic flame behavior and estimates of particle burn time and spatial interaction models.
As the concentration of Aluminum powder increases, the flame propagates faster and the particles appear to burn in less time. However, the burning length remains almost unchanged.
This is not obvious.
More Aluminum particles mean more competition for Oxygen. One could therefore assume that, with less Oxygen available to each particle, combustion would take longer, but the experiments suggest otherwise.
Aluminum particles do not burn independently of one another. The temperature of the surrounding gases, the presence of reactive species such as AlO, and the heat exchanged between particles all contribute to the combustion process.
The Literature has covered these topics, but we liked how Malik et al. presented the experimental evidence and their modeling.
For an Aluminum Powders manufacturer like VALIMET, Inc., the key question is how powders’ particles size distribution and characteristics affect the results for this model and its predictive capability.
We hope to see more works from this team: impress us, guys!
(If you’re interested, a recent paper discussed this topic in the context of flame stabilization: “Flame speed measurements in aluminum suspensions using a counterflow burner”, by the McGill University team lead by Jeff Bergthorson)
IMPLICATIONS:
– Several US start-ups are innovating in the space of Solid Rocket Motors and metal-fueled airbreathing propulsion.
The very Aluminum powder concentration is matter of discussion and this paper brings a fine perspective on the shared, overlapped Oxygen region for Aluminum particles – formulators might get ideas.
– Energetic materials Safety is also involved, in the context of dust-flame combustion. Powder concentration, combustion time, flame velocity are components of hazard assessment.
We hope this paper intrigues our Energetics followers who INCREDIBLY reached this final sentence of our post.
#EnergeticMaterials #Combustion #AluminumPowder #Propulsion #SolidRocketMotors