Dynamics of phase-formation processes during self-propagating high-temperature synthesis in the thermal explosion regime

Specific features of formation of temperature and concentration fields during self-propagating high-temperature synthesis in the thermal explosion regime in a cylindrical reactor are studied by methods of mathematical modeling. The calculations are performed with allowance for melting of one (chemically active) component in the approximation with the high-melting component being non-soluble in the melt of the low-melting component. It is shown that the conditions of complete conversion of the original components in the volume of the reacting mixture depend on relations between the Biot criterion of the system, the ambient temperature, and the thermal effect of the reaction. After the thermal explosion, which occurs when the melting front reaches the geometric center of the reactor, a front of complete conversion is formed. This front moves from the cylinder centerline to the periphery with a gradually decreasing velocity. The diagram of the critical values of the Biot criterion at which the components burn down completely in the entire reaction volume is calculated. __________ Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 31–38, July–August, 2008.