The Solid Flame Phenomenon: A Novel Perspective

In this paper, the authors overview previous publications and present novel results related to self‐sustained solid‐state reactions: the solid flame. Due to recent advances in the fabrication of nano‐structured reactive media, this phenomenon, which is first reported fifty years ago, has found a new perspective for a wide variety of exothermic systems. These fundamental findings permit novel routes for synthesis of advanced engineering materials with controlled microstructure, as well as for design of high‐energy density systems with tuned parameters for energy release. Short‐term high‐energy ball treatment of powder mixtures is an effective tool to achieve the necessary conditions for the solid flame phenomenon. It is important that this phenomenon can be accomplished in systems (Ta/C, Si/C, TiN/B, Ni/Al) with different thermodynamic characteristics and phase diagrams. These fundamental findings permit novel routes for synthesis of advanced materials with controlled microstructures.