Gas generating composition

Abstract

A solid composition capable of self-sustained combustion to produce gaseous nitrogen and nonvolatile solids as its combustion products comprises a mixture of a first metal azide and the oxide or salt of a second metal which second metal is below the first metal in the electrochemical series and which is capable of being substituted by the first metal in the oxide or salt. Many combinations of various components may be used, but some care is required to select only those combinations in which the solid products are nonvolatile at the temperatures encountered during the combustion. A representative system employes iron oxide and sodium azide according to the following reactions: Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 +6NaN.sub.3 .fwdarw.2Fe+3Na.sub.2 O+9N.sub.2 .uparw. Another embodiment of the invention generates mixtures of nitrogen and other gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and/or water particularly suitable for use in lasers. This is accomplished by adding to the mixture materials which react or decompose into the desired gases. If carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide is the desired additional gas, a metal carbonate may be used as the salt in the above reaction.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.