The construction of bifunctional Al@CuTFA with suppression of aluminum agglomeration and catalysis of propellant combustion

Aluminum particles have become one of the essential fuels in solid propellant technology. However, the agglomeration of Al particles in combustion significantly reduces the combustion efficiency of propellants. For improving the combustion efficiency of aluminum particles, CuTFA is grown in-situ on the surface of aluminum particles and synthesized the composites fuel, named Al@CuTFA. Morphological analysis reveals that CuTFA is formed as the sheet-like structure coated on the surface of aluminum particles. The Al@CuTFA demonstrates catalytic activity in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP). Furthermore, comparing with the aluminum particles, the burning rate of Al@CuTFA mixed with AP increases from 173 mm/s to 257 mm/s, attributed to the catalytic effect of Cu(II) in CuTFA on aluminum combustion. In addition, Al@CuTFA composites can effectively destroy the Al₂O₃ layer and mitigating the agglomeration of aluminum particles in the combustion of solid propellant. The metal fuel of solid propellant replaces the aluminum particles with Al@CuTFA, and particle sizes D50 of its condensed product is reduced from 64.976 μm to 31.303 μm. Thus, constructing the bifunctionalized Al@CuTFA composites is an effective strategy to improve the combustion performance of solid propellant.