Effect of Mechanical Activation on the Reactivity of Composites for Flameless Heaters

Abstract

The work is devoted to the activation of metal powder mixtures suitable for use in flameless food heaters. Four activated powders have been manufactured starting from the reference material using a standard technique. Activated powders exhibited a significant increment of the reactivity for the reference mixture. Experimental tests were carried out to characterize the resulting composites in terms of the combustion rate. The oxidation reaction at a low heating rate was monitored using a SEIKO EXTAR II thermal analysis machine and its tests were carried out at open air in temperature range starting from room temperature up to 1150 °C at the heating rate of 10 °C/min. Powders activated by mechanical activations and the initial mixture of materials were characterized in terms of apparent density, absorbed surfactant with the mass of sizing, i.e. granulometry, oxidation properties at a low heating rate. With increase the grinding time, the color of the powder switches to dark tones. Powder granulometry was performed on a MALVERN laser granulometer MASTERSIZER 2000 using dry block SCIROCCO. Three measurements for each sample were performed and the results were averaged. The tests were recorded and processed by digital technology to make the combustion rate of the powders, also the experimental setup used for investigations was presented. The sample AlS-AlF_MnO₂_SiO-150 is characterized by the lowest metal content, and by the most regular combustion propagation. The powder AlS-AlF_MnO₂_SiO-50 features the highest metal content, but the less regular combustion propagation. The use of mechanical activation allows increasing the number of nanoscale materials, which contributes to the synthesis of highly effective flameless food heaters.