Fabrication of tetrapod-shaped Al/Ni microparticles with tunable self-propagating exothermic function

This paper reports micron-sized tetrapod shape Al/Ni particles fabricated by injection molding and electroless plating. We realize fabricating the 3D tetrapod micro particles with self-propagating exothermic function that is able to tunable by changing Al powder´s diameter and simultaneously by keeping porous Al tetrapod´s void fraction constant. The maximum surface temperature and high temperature duration during the reaction differ from sputtered Al/Ni multilayer film´s exothermic performances. The tetrapod´s exothermic performances can be freely controlled in response to the applications.