Vol. 24 No. 2 (2025): Mapana Journal of Sciences
Review Articles

A Review of Nano Structured Thermites and Explosives: Synthesis and Emerging Applications

  • Agin P,
  • Ashisha A Aloysius,
  • Dhaneesh K John
Agin P
Department of Forensic Science, AJK College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Ashisha A Aloysius
Department of Forensic Science, AJK College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Bio
Dhaneesh K John
Department of Forensic Science, AJK College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

Published 2025-07-22

Keywords

  • Nanoparticles,
  • Nanothermites,
  • Pyrotechnics,
  • Green Synthesis

Copyright (c) 2025

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Primary explosives have been a crucial component of defense systems since long, but the currently used lead-based primary explosives are highly harmful to the environment and toxic to living beings. Nanostructured materials have offered quite an improvement in this regard, offering a greener source of primary explosive with improved safety and reliability, while also offering better performance. This has led many major military groups to conduct considerable research in this domain. The SFE method is a highly efficient and favoured method for the production of such nanoenergetic materials, offering good productivity and industrial compatibility for mass-scale manufacturing. The nanoenergetic particles thus prepared, exhibit better combustion properties when mixed with nanothermites to form NSTEX composites. These loose powder composites have shown considerable improvement with respect to metal-based primary explosives which are currently employed in explosive and pyrotechnic applications. However, the ultimate challenge that exists in this domain is the production of practical and operational systems from these highly energetic nanopowders. This research is still in its early stages and breakthrough in this domain may unlock a vast array of opportunities for the development of safer and more efficient defence systems.

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