Review on application of nano-metal powders in explosive and propellants

The applications of nano-metal powders, with high reaction activity and combustion heat, are a crucial approach to increase the performance of explosives and propellants products. This article reviewed the latest improvement of nano-metal powders to propellants, condensed explosives, fuel-air explosives and thermites, and summarized a few methods to modify nano-metal powders, such as nano-metal/polymer compounding, nano-metal/carbon compounding, surface coating with small molecular agents, surface inarching with macromolecule polymer, gas phase depositing, and shape modifying of particles. The important directions of nano-metal powders, are nano-boron, nano-zirconium and composite nano-aluminium.