Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2013
A comparison of different Ni+Al reactive materials is conducted to elucidate the effects of microstructure morphology on performance. CTH, a multi-material Eulerian hydrocode, was utilized to study mesoscale deformation during simulated rod-on-anvil experiments. It is found that the cold sprayed Ni+Al, which has a more topologically connected nickel phase, is likely to be more reactive because of enhanced deformation in the Ni phase relative to explosively compacted Ni+Al, where the Ni phase undergoes less deformation. Rod-on-anvil impact tests verify that cold sprayed Ni+Al is indeed more reactive than explosively compacted Ni+Al when subject to impact.