Ignition power in micropyretic synthesis Original Research Article

The influence of ignition power on stable and unstable micropyretic reactions is investigated numerically in this study. The numerical results show that a lower ignition power takes a longer time to ignite the specimens. Thus, the pre-heating zone at the ignition spot is lengthened. The changes in these parameters at the ignition spot may result in non-homogeneous microstructures and properties. The results also indicate that using a higher power to ignite the micropyretic reactions can reduce the ignition time and further prevent the heterogeneous structure from being formed at the ignition spot. However, higher heat loss occurs due to a high temperature gradient. The energy required to ignite the reaction is thus increased. In addition, the numerical results also show that the energy required for ignition is significantly enhanced for those reactions with a higher activation energy or higher heat capacity.