Spray drying processing and characterization of sodium-nitrate-aluminium

Abstract

Spray drying has been reputed for achieving successful microencapsulation of drugs and food and formation of spherical structures. In the interest of preparing an intimate mix of metallic fuel particles and solid oxidizer, spray drying is adopted to study the encapsulation of an oxidizer, i.e. sodium nitrite (NaNO2), over a fuel, Aluminium (Al). The processing of oxidizer NaNO2 and metallic Al fuel particles via spray drying with a BUCHI B290 mini spray dryer, wherein the metallic particles are dispersed within the solid oxidizer forming an intimate mix, has been successfully developed and characterized. Further comparison studies between spray dried and physical-mixed samples were made.