Mechanisms of reaction wave propagation during combustion synthesis of advanced materials

Abstract

Using a digital high-speed microscopic video recording technique developed in our laboratory, we have investigated hightemperature combustion synthesis waves in the Ni+Al system. Based on the results obtained, we identify characteristic features of rapid high-temperature reaction wave propagation in heterogeneous media. It is shown that, while at time scales ∼10-1 s the reaction wave propagation appears to be steady, at time scales ∼10-3 s it exhibits features of hesitations followed by jumps, and at even faster time scales ∼10-4 s is shown to follow a novel scintillating reaction wave mechanism.