Self-propagation of reactive Al/Ni multilayers with textured surface topography

Reactive multilayer systems (RMS) were fabricated by magnetron sputtering deposition of Al and Ni nanolayers on a  copper substrate with textured surface topography, the copper substrate was subsequently removed in order to obtain free-standing RMS. The morphology of the substrate surface impacted the microstructure of the produced RMS, therefore the RMS have a textured surface. The samples were papered with a surface texture in different orientations (0°, 45°, and 90°). Besides RMS with the same characteristics were prepared on Si wafer (flat surface) in order to compare the propagation behavior of the RMS with a textured surface and RMS with a relatively flat surface. During the ignition test, the propagation front was recorded by a High-Speed camera with a resolution of 50,000 fps. In the videos, it is possible to observe the effect of the textured surface of the RMS on the propagation front of the reaction.