Hybrid Reactive Materials for Thermobaric Weapons

It is proposed to develop hybrid powders containing highly reactive filler coated by or embedded into a matrix of readily boiling, combustible binder. The binder materials, such as paraffin wax or red phosphorus are expected to ignite and burn within the expanding fireball while the reactive filler remains at the relatively low temperature at which the binder boils, and thus remains protected from ignition. Once the binder is consumed, the reactive filler is expected to ignite and burn rapidly. To ensure rapid reaction, the reactive filler is proposed to comprise nanocomposite powders capable of highly exothermic reaction occurring volumetrically, such as Ti+2B powders recently produced using arrested reactive milling. The timing of the initiation of the filler can be tailored to specific applications by adjusting the filler/binder ratio. Further modification of the proposed hybrid powders is possible by adding an activating nanocomposite thermite surface layer. The sizes or the hybrid powder particles will be relatively large, on the order of 100 µm to ensure complete consumption of the binder and ignition of the reactive filler when the particles emerge from the fireball and mix with surrounding air. The hybrid powders will be prepared using dry coating approach and their combustion will be tested in laboratory experiments.