Preparation, Characterization and Properties of NC-coated Zirconium Composite Particles

Abstract Zirconium has certain application advantages compared with other metals due to its high density, high volume calorific value and combustion performance. Unfortunately, the applications of current Zirconium powders are limited due to its high electrostatic discharge sensitivity, making Zirconium powders more pyrophoric and less amenable to functionalization. To improve the security, Zr/NC composite particles with reduced electrostatic discharge sensitivity are prepared by solvent-antisolvent method and characterized by FT-IR, XRD, TG, SEM and ESD test. The measurement confirmed that the 50% firing energy ( E 50) of Zr/NC is increased from 5.13 mJ to 25.2 mJ, which is 5 times higher than that of raw Zr powder. The results show that surface coating modification is a feasible method for decreasing the ESD of Zr powder. This study provides technology support for its application in high density propellant.