A carbon nanotube energetic igniter was fabricated by integrating carbon nanotube composite energetic materials with a Cu layer realized onto a ceramics substrate. Carbon nanotube composite energetic materials were prepared by means of the wet chemical method, filling multiwalled carbon nanotubes with KNO3. DSC curves show that the carbon nanotube composite energetic materials released chemical heat of 876.1 J • g-1 at the peak value of 386.8℃. The electroexplosive performances of the carbon nanotube energetic igniter were investigated using a capacitor-discharger apparatus. The electro-explosive time decreased exponentially with increasing the charging voltage and approached a certain value of 39.3 μs. The electric explosion process of the carbon nanotube energetic igniter recorded by high speed photography shows that chemical reaction of carbon nanotube composite energetic materials was involved in the electric explosion process, accompanied by more heat release.
carbon nanotubes, KNO3, nanoenergetic materials, electrophoretic deposition, electro-explosive performance