Smart thermites enter the scene; progress seen on thermography for ballistics and electric propulsion for nanosatellites

The University of Iowa and Iowa State University this year began planning for experiments at the Argonne National Laboratory Advanced Photon Source to investigate the ability to dynamically control, via microwave radiation, the porosity within an explosive. The team plans to observe this process using in-situ high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging. This research will be a follow up to work by Iowa State University featured on the cover of the Aug. 25, 2021 issue of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces describing the ability to make "smart thermites" with a switchable electromagnetic function, opening the door to new ignition possibilities for explosives and solid rocket propellants. The initial research and forthcoming experiments, both funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, demonstrate how the addition of graphene oxide to a thermite can give the thermite on-demand controllable "off-on" microwave ignitability. Until this research, ignition was thought to be only possible on a surface of an energetic material.