Additively Manufactured Reactive Material Architectures as a Programmable Heat Source

Abstract Until recently, the reactive properties of energetic materials have traditionally been tuned through chemical composition. However, with the emergence of additive manufacturing (AM) technology, the reaction can also be tuned through the construction of custom shapes known as reactive material architectures (RMAs). In this study, we present the development and empirical evaluation of a thermite paste tuned for additively manufacturing RMAs. The resulting architectures were ignited and recorded using a high-speed camera to determine the influence of the architectural features on the speed of reaction and the ability of the reaction to jump to neighboring architectures. In addition, in a constructive application, a sample lap joint was created using AM thermite architectures to demonstrate joining possibilities. The reaction characteristics were successfully shown to be controllable through architectures, which creates a wide range of opportunities for both constructive and destructive engineering applications.