METAL NANO-POWDER COMPOSITIONS AND METHODS FOR PREPARING SAME

摘要

The present invention provides a process for producing metal, metal alloy, and metal composite nano-powders in large volume with a minimum of by-products and process steps. The invention specifically embodies a method comprising providing one or more metal oxide nano-powder(s), mixing the metal oxide nano-powder(s) with an amount of reducing metal or reducing metal precursor to provide an oxide-reducing metal mix; heating the oxide-reducing metal mix in an inert atmosphere to a reducing temperature; followed by washing and drying. The method provides metal nano-powders with average primary particle size of 5 to 500 nm, and a high specific surface area. The invention further comprises unique metal nano-powder compositions of tungsten, zirconium, titanium, and tungsten- hafnium composite that are useful in propellant and explosive formulations. A TEM of a zirconium nano-powder of the invention is illustrated.