Industrial Scale Nano-Aluminum Powder Manufacturing

David Pesiri, Christopher E. Aumann, Luke Bilger, David Booth, R. Doug Carpenter, Rob Dye, Edward O’Neill, Debbie Shelton, and Kevin C. Walter

ABSTRACT: Producing nano-aluminum powder (n-Al) on a commercial scale places a great deal of emphasis on practical manufacturing issues. Scientists and engineers in the laboratory commonly evaluate nano-aluminum powder in the technical terms of its particle size, particle size distribution (PSD), morphology, and oxide shell thickness.  The quality of nano-aluminum at the commercial scale, however, rests upon several additional parameters that emphasize manufacturing effectiveness (production rate, process reproducibility, raw material utilization, lot size and scalability) as well as product quality (powder purity, surface properties and extent of agglomeration).  Balancing the practical demands of a commercially viable process with the technical needs of specialized end users has been the challenge throughout the life of Technanogy Materials Development (TMD). Today TMD stands as a company focused on the manufacture and commercialization of nano-aluminum powder and able to assist others in developing nanoaluminum applications. The issues and insights related to the scale-up of this technology during the past three years are described. The properties of nano-aluminum powder that have motivated this scale-up are also discussed.

Keywords: nano-aluminum, nanoparticle, particle size distribution, passivation, oxide layer thickness, nanomaterial


Ref: JPyro, Issue 19, 2004, pp19-31
(J19_19)

© Journal of Pyrotechnics and CarnDu Ltd



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