| Abstract: | Boron particles have several major burning problems, such as incomplete combustion, poor ignitability, and a complex burning process in solid propellants. It is documented that the low ignitability and combustion efficiency of boron are caused by the oxidation of its surface. In order to improve the combustion efficiency of boron particles, a precipitation method was employed to prepare nanometer‐sized NiO and coat it on boron particles. The morphology and coating results of the B/NiO nanocomposite thermite were characterized using different approaches such as SEM, X‐ray Diffraction (XRD), and EDS. The results indicated that the boron particles were well distributed and coated completely by nanocomposite NiO. The B/NiO nanocomposite thermite reaction process was tested by TG‐DTA. The results showed that the reaction temperature of B/NiO particles is about 30 °C lower than that of boron particles. The B/NiO thermite and boron powder were added to Mg/PTFE propellant to be measured for their respective combustion performance. The results showed that the burning rate of the B/NiO‐Mg/PTFE propellant increased by 22.8–25.2 %, mass burning rate by 26.7–30.8 %, and combustion temperature increased by 8–56 °C compared to the B‐Mg/PTFE propellant. The above results indicate that NiO coating of boron particles has a significant effect on the combustion behavior and increases the combustion performance of the propellant compared with uncoated particles. |
