13. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

a. REPORT 16. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF: An experimental study was conducted in which aluminum hydride (alane, AlH3) replaced nanoaluminum incrementally as a fuel in a nanocomposite thermite based on CuO, Bi2O3, and Fe2O3. Pressure cell and burn tube experiments demonstrated enhancements in absolute pressure, pressurization rate, and burning velocity when micron-scale aluminum hydride was used as a minor fuel component in a nanoaluminum–copper-oxide thermite mixture. Peak pressurization rates were found when the aluminum hydride made up about 25 % of the fuel by mole. Pressurization rates increase by a factor of about two with the addition of AlH3, whereas burn tube velocitie