The influence of Al content on microstructure, mechanical properties and thermal reactive behavior of W–Zr–Al energetic structural materials

Energetic structural materials (ESMs) possess both high heat release capability and mechanical strength, making them suitable for defense applications. However, due to relatively low density, the application of traditional. Al-based ESMs is hindered. In the present study, W/Zr/Al ESMs with exceptional mechanical properties and reactivity were designed by changing the Al content and successfully synthesized using explosive shock consolidation combined heat treatment. The different continuous phases occur in designed W/Zr/Al that uniformly distributed phase at low Al content to Al continuous phase at high Al content. The compressive strength of W/Zr/Al is ranging from 245 MPa to 481 MPa and the fracture strain is ranging from 6.1% to 15.96%. The combination of strength and plasticity is better than other ESMs. Mixed Hall-Petch equation are used to predict the yield stress of W/Zr/Al ESMs. Theoretical analysis shows that the W and Zr mainly contributed to the strength of W–Zr–Al ESMs and the growing up of grain causes the decrease of strength after heat treatment. The reactive heat rises as the Al content increases and the reactive heat under Air atmosphere is much higher than that under Ar atmosphere. Compared with other ESMs, the designed W/Zr/Al have excellent comprehensive properties, simultaneously possessing high density, strength, and reactivity.