U.S. patent application number 11/798693 was filed with the patent office on 2008-03-20 for flash-ignitable energetic material.
Invention is credited to Patrick Brousseau, Sebastien Cote, Sylvain Desilets, Nicole Gagnon, Serge Trudel.
Application Number | 20080066835 11/798693 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 31188345 |
Filed Date | 2008-03-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20080066835 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Desilets; Sylvain ; et
al. |
March 20, 2008 |
Flash-ignitable energetic material
Abstract
Carbon nanotubes and activated carbon containing a metal such as
palladium release a photoacoustic effect when subjected to a flash
of light. A light ignitable, energetic composition is produced by
mixing one of them with an energetic material such as carbon black
powder or ammonium perchlorate.
Inventors: |
Desilets; Sylvain;
(St-Augustin, CA) ; Brousseau; Patrick;
(I'Ancienne-Lorette, CA) ; Gagnon; Nicole;
(Quebec, CA) ; Cote; Sebastien; (Quebec, CA)
; Trudel; Serge; (Beauport, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
GEORGE A. SEABY;SEABY & ASSOCIATES
250 CITY CENTRE AVNUE
OTTAWA
ON
K1R6K7
CA
|
Family ID: |
31188345 |
Appl. No.: |
11/798693 |
Filed: |
May 16, 2007 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11444464 |
Jun 1, 2006 |
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11798693 |
May 16, 2007 |
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10617134 |
Jul 11, 2003 |
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11444464 |
Jun 1, 2006 |
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60394871 |
Jul 11, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
149/46 ;
149/108.2; 149/76 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C06B 23/001 20130101;
C06C 9/00 20130101; B82Y 30/00 20130101; C06B 23/002 20130101; C06B
45/00 20130101; C06B 43/00 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
149/046 ;
149/108.2; 149/076 |
International
Class: |
C06B 31/28 20060101
C06B031/28; C06B 29/22 20060101 C06B029/22 |
Claims
1. A light ignitable, energetic composition comprising an intimate
mixture of (i) activated carbon; (ii) an energetic material
selected from the group consisting of black powder, ammonium
perchlorate, hexogen, octogen, pentaerythritol tetranitrate,
trinitrotoluene, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, ammonium nitrate,
lead azide, lead styphnate, nitro plasticizers and picric acid; and
(iii) a metal selected from the group consisting of palladium,
iron, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper, zinc, potassium, sodium and
titanium.
2. The composition of claim 1, wherein the mixture contains 1 to 20
weight percent activated carbon, the remainder being the energetic
material.
3. The composition of claim 2, wherein the mixture contains 95
weight percent of the energetic material and 5 weight percent
activated carbon containing metal.
4. The composition of claim 2, wherein the mixture contains 95
weight percent black powder and 5 weight percent activated
carbon.
5. The composition of claim 1, wherein the energetic material is
ammonium perchlorate.
6. The composition of claim 2, wherein the mixture contains 95
weight percent ammonium perchlorate and 5 weight percent activated
carbon.
7. The composition of claim 3, wherein the mixture contains 95
weight percent of ground ammonium perchlorate and 5 weight percent
of activated carbon containing 97 weight percent carbon and 3
weight percent palladium.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a Divisional of application Ser. No.
11/444,464, filed Jun. 1, 2006, which is a Continuation of
application Ser. No. 10/617,134, filed Jul. 11, 2003, which claims
benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/394,871, filed on
Jul. 11, 2002 (all of which are hereby incorporated by
reference).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] 1. Field of the Invention
[0003] This invention relates to a light ignitable, energetic
materials. More specifically, the invention relates to light
ignitable, energetic materials containing carbon nanotubes or
activated carbon containing a metal.
[0004] 2. Discussion of the Prior Art
[0005] A carbon nanotube (CNT) is a hollow nanostructure consisting
essentially of a graphitic plane rolled into a thin tube, both ends
of which can be closed by a fullerene-type dome structure. The
existence of CNT's was originally discovered by S. Iijima [see
Nature 354, 56 (1991)]. The material exhibits various interesting
mechanical and electrical properties. There exists two forms of
carbon nanotubes, namely single walled nanotubes (SWNT) and
multiwalled nanotubes (MWNT).
[0006] It has recently been reported by P. M. Ajayan et al in
Science, Vol. 296, 705 (2002) that carbon nanotubes release a large
photoacoustic effect when subjected to a flash of light caused by
the absorption of the light. It seems that the phenomenon is
predominantly present in SWNT's and that the temperature of the
process can reach 1500.degree. C. The inventors have also
determined that activated carbon containing a metal such as
palladium also possesses the property of releasing a photoacoustic
effect when subjected to a flash of light.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0007] The object of the present invention is to exploit the above
described property of carbon nanotubes and activated carbon
containing a metal to produce a light ignitable, energetic
material.
[0008] Accordingly, the present invention relates to a light
ignitable, energetic composition comprising an intimate mixture of
an energetic material and one of carbon nanotubes and activated
carbon containing a metal selected from the group consisting of
palladium, iron, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper, zinc, potassium,
sodium and titanium.
[0009] The invention also relates to a method of preparing a light
ignitable, energetic composition comprising intimately mixing an
energetic material and one of carbon nanotubes and activated carbon
containing a metal selected from the group consisting of palladium,
iron, nickel, cobalt, aluminum, copper, zinc, potassium, sodium and
titanium.
[0010] A variety of energetic materials can be used in the method
of the present invention. Such energetic materials include black
powder, ammonium perchlorate (AP), hexogen (RDX), octogen (HMX),
pentaerythritol tetranitrate, (PETN), trinitrotoluene (TNT),
nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, ammonium nitrate, lead azide, lead
styphnate, nitro plasticizers and picric acid. While the carbon
nanotubes can be SWNT or MWNT, the single walled nanotubes are
preferred.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0011] In general terms, the invention takes advantage of the
photoacoustic effect of carbon nanotubes when subjected to a burst
of light, e.g. a camera flash to ignite an energetic material. In
order to test the theory, different carbon nanotubes were used, the
most common one being a SWNT commercial available from Carbon
Nanotechnologies, Inc., Houston, Tex. Different percentages of
carbon nanotubes (1-90 weight percent) were manually mixed (gently)
with carbon black powder. Initially, the most efficient composition
contained 5 weight percent SWNT mixed with 95 weight percent Grade
7 black powder. The composition exploded instantaneously after
being subjected to a camera flash. It was found that black powder
with the smallest particle size was the most effective. The same
effect was observed when activated carbon containing a metal, e.g.
palladium was mixed with black powder, and the resulting mixture
was exposed to a camera flash.
[0012] The invention will be better understood from the following
examples.
EXAMPLE 1
[0013] 3 weight percent of crude carbon nanotubes were mixed with
97 weight percent ground ammonium perchlorate. The mixture was
homogenized using ball milling equipment for 15 minutes. The balls
used in the mill were made of glass. The resulting composition was
then exposed to an intense flash using a commercially available
Vivitar (trademark) flash. The power of the flash was 200
W/cm.sup.2 at a distance of 4.5 cm.
EXAMPLE 2
[0014] The procedure of Example 1 was repeated using 3%, 5%, 10%
and 20% carbon nanotubes. At a concentration in excess of 20%
nanotubes, the ignition phenomenon was less efficient, i.e. the
combustion process (explosion) appears to be incomplete.
EXAMPLE 3
[0015] Energetic formulations containing carbon nanotubes and RDX,
TNT, black powder or AP were ignited at distances from 3 to 7 cm
using the Vivitar flash. In a few cases, ignition was possible from
a distance as great as 14 cm.
EXAMPLE 4
[0016] The method of Example 1 was repeated using 5 weight percent
activated carbon containing palladium (97% carbon and 3% palladium)
with 95 weight percent ground ammonium perchlorate. The mixture was
homogenized using the same ball milling equipment as in Example 1.
The composition was ignited using a flash; however, the process was
less efficient than when using carbon nanotubes.
EXAMPLE 5
[0017] The ignition effect was observed for a variety of mixtures
of activated carbon containing 3-30% palladium catalyst and a
variety of energetic materials. The ignition effect was similar to
that observed when using carbon nanotubes, but seemed to be less
efficient after 3 to 5 days. It is believed that the activated
carbon was absorbing water which reduced the efficiency of the
ignition phenomenon.
[0018] Compositions in accordance with the present invention can be
used for light ignited pyrotechnic effects and as light ignited
triggers for detonators, gas generators and air bags.
* * * * *