Combustion Synthesis of Ni/Al Base Composites

This paper presents a new ignition technique to synthesize NiAl based composites using high frequency induction heating to ignite the combustion reaction. A high resolution thermal imaging camera and two infrared thermometers were used to monitor the complete temperature profiles during synthesis. Thermodynamic calculations were performed to predict the combustion temperature and the effect of preheating temperatures. The results show that the combustion reaction for Ni/Al based composites can be ignited using a high frequency induction heater. High density, multi layer TiC-NiAl composites can be produced using this method, but to ignite the combustion reaction by induction heating for the Ni/Al+Ti/C system, there is a limit for the content of Ti/C, above which the ignition will not start. Ultra fine TiC was synthesized using this technique.