Combustion synthesis for NASA's new vision for space exploration

Combustion synthesis (CS) has been a popular research topic in the last 3 decades. Motivation was due to attractive properties and possibilities, compared to conventional materials processing and synthesis techniques. Although, it is a fairly simple process, CS involves quite complex mechanisms that occur simultaneously at rapidly changing high temperatures in the short duration (few sec.) of the reaction. Gravity plays an important role in CS; therefore a deeper comprehension of the effects of gravity on non-equilibrium mechanisms is needed. Similarly, electric current activation presents several advantages, by overcoming kinetic and thermodynamic limitations as well as providing control over the properties of the reaction and final product. Present investigation utilized a chemical oven technique, where the sample is embedded in a mixture of exothermic powder mixture. It focused on answering essential questions by separating different mechanisms and understanding fundamental aspects of gravity and electric current in CS. Phenomena investigated included reactive settling, dissolution and precipitation, and reactive liquid metal flow. CS is considered as a potential technique with various advantages and applications in NASA’s new vision for space exploration: Moon, Mars, and beyond!