Study of the kinetic and energetic reaction properties of multilayered aluminum–nickel nanofoils

Manufacturers are facing the demand to produce resource efficient electromobiles. This is a challenging task as the heavy traction battery significantly increases the overall mass of the vehicle. Using light-weight components is an engineering strategy to improve the power-to-mass ratio. The current trend is to produce components consisting of dissimilar materials. Joining by using reactive nanofoils is a promising technique to produce components in a multi-material design. However, the reaction characteristics during joining must be known to enable an industrial application. Therefore, this study addresses the analysis of the kinetic and energetic reaction properties of commercially available aluminum–nickel nanofoils with different layer structures. An experimental setup based on a monochromatic high-speed camera and a test device was applied to evaluate the shape and the velocity of the propagating combustion front during the reaction process. A combustion calorimeter was used to determine the reaction enthalpy. Existing analytical models to predict kinetic and energetic reaction properties of multilayered foils were reviewed using the experimental findings. A pre-exponential factor was determined empirically to account for nanofoils with individual foil thicknesses. Finally, the kinetic and energetic properties of commercially available nanofoils were predicted with a high degree of accuracy by using the analytical models in combination with the pre-exponential factor.