Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2018
Rapid or explosive heating of electrically conductive films has several applications, and the use of reactive laminates to increase output energy is an intriguing concept. Past studies have shown electrically heated aluminum/nickel (Al/Ni) nano-laminate films to augment this energy by an amount approximately equivalent to the expected heat of mixing between the two elements, which for most intermetallics is a significant fraction of the total heat of reaction (86% for Al/Ni). In this study, we investigate the use of sputtered aluminum/boron (Al/B) laminates to determine whether a similar increase, as measured by the velocity of an ejected flyer layer, occurs. However, observed velocities in any samples containing boron were 38% to 45% lower than samples without boron, despite much higher heats of reaction reported in the literature for Al/B. We attributed this reduction to the vaporization temperature of boron being much higher than that of Al, and because Al electrical resistivity at elevated temperatures was still much lower than boron, boron heating was less efficient as vaporized Al expanded and drove the ejected flyer. These results and analysis give insight into other reactive material combinations in which one of the constituents is an electrical insulator.