LAUSR

Abstract Self-propagating reaction in magnetron sputtered deposited nanoscale Ti/Si/Ti/nAl (n = 1, 2, 3) ternary reactive multilayer films (RMFs) has been investigated as a function of different Al-molar ratios in Ti-Al bilayers by keeping Ti-Si bilayer, and total film thickness constant. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of reacted films exhibits the formation of the major intermetallic compounds of Si 2 Ti, SiTi 3 and Al 2 Ti from Ti-Si and Ti-Al bilayers, which also depend on Al-molar ratios. Maximum reaction temperatures of three compositions vary in the range of 1462–1812 °C during the self-propagating reaction. Ti/Si/Ti/Al and Ti/Si/Ti/2 A l RMFs exhibit the reaction front velocities of 9.1 ± 2 m s −1 and 7.7 ± 2 m s −1 , respectively. In contrast, Ti/Si/Ti/3 A l RMFs show a relatively low reaction temperature of 1462 °C and the low velocity of 6.2 ± 2 m s −1 . A high amount of reaction heat was also estimated in Ti/Si/Ti/Al RMFs. Although three RMFs have identical Ti-Si bilayer thickness (∼29 nm) and total thickness (∼5–6 μm), only difference in Ti-Al bilayer thickness (∼29–47 nm), introduces distinct local intermixing rates and the reaction propagation. Moreover, the experimental results suggest that reaction properties of RMFs namely reaction velocity, temperature and heat could be optimized through Al-molar ratios, which will open up application flexibilities as a heat source.