The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
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Title:	Preparation and characterization of reactive composites combining boron with mixed oxides
Author:	Gandhi, Purvam Mehulkumar
View Online:	njit-etd2020-073 (xii, 70 pages ~ 1.9 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Chemical Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Dreyzin, Edward L. (Committee co-chair) Schoenitz, Mirko (Committee co-chair) Guvendiren, Murat (Committee member)
Date:	2020-12
Keywords:	Metal combustion Process control agent Binary oxidizers Mixed oxides Ignition Energetics
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Thirteen liquids have been explored as Process Control Agents (PCAs) for high-energy mechanical milling of two metal oxide powders, CuO and Bi2O3, with the practical purpose to reduce the sizes of powder particles and refine their crystal structure. Multiple liquid properties have been considered to analyze their effect on evolution of both particle and crystallite sizes during milling for each oxide. Experimental data were analyzed using the δ-AICc (Akaike Information criterion) correlation function applied to linear relations between liquid properties and powder characteristics. Multiple linear correlation models were ranked based on the highest log-likelihood and the lowest δ-AICc values. Liquid properties affecting milling outcomes in each case were identified; the data also identified specific liquids that are most effective PCAs. Respectively, a PCA was selected to prepare and characterize B-based thermites with both oxides forming binary oxidizers with varied compositions. Thermal analysis of these reactive composites was conducted along with the ignition and combustion experiments. It was observed that thermites with binary oxidizers had distinct characteristics of low-temperature oxidation; however, the differences between different thermites diminished during their combustion tests.