A Shock-Tube Study of Aluminum Oxidation at Elevated Temperatures

A technique for uniformly dispersing solid particles into the driven section of a shock tube was demonstrated using aluminum powder. The technique uses a particle injector in a secondary vessel to produce suspended Al particles in the carrier gas, which is then introduced into the shock tube. Laser extinction measurements were made to examine the performance of the injection process. Using this approach, heterogeneous shock-tube experiments were demonstrated For 20-μm aluminum particles in air. These experiments were conducted behind reflected shock waves for temperatures ranging between (2320 \u3c T \u3c 3172 K) and pressures near 1 atmosphere. Visible emission from the B2Σ+ → X2 Σ+ transition of the intermediate species AlO near 488 nm was used to monitor reaction progress