This paper investigates the ability of an aluminum-fluoropolymer energetic material to act as a multifunctional energetic structural material (MESM). The mechanical properties of the material were determined by performing quasi-static tensile testing of 3D printed dogbones. Samples were prepared with and without particle loading, as well as with different print directions, in order to gain a fundamental understanding of how these parameters affect the mechanical properties of the material. Larger truss samples were printed in order to simulate realistic structural elements. Samples were printed in different directions and burned to determine this parameter’s effect on the combustion performance of the material. The aluminum polyvinylidene fluoride mixtures considered were shown to have viable structural capabilities as well as sufficient combustion performance. The structural energetic capabilities of the formulations considered, paired with the material’s ability to be 3D printed, could enable a number of interesting applications in the aerospace and defense industry.

The constituents of an aluminum/polyvinylidene fluoride multifunctional energetic structural material (MESM) were varied in order to determine the effect of solids loading and particle size on the structural energetic properties of the material. More specifically, seven different material formulations were paired with additive manufacturing to quantify key performance metrics relevant to the MESM use case. Determined via the quasi‐static tensile testing of 3D printed dogbone samples, both the modulus of elasticity and the ultimate strength was found to be heavily dependent on the solids loading; respectively increasing from 71 MPa to 208 MPa and decreasing from 34.5 MPa to 21.6 MPa, when transitioning from a 10 % Al loading to a 50 % Al loading. To characterize the combustion properties, a thermochemical code was used to predict the heat of combustion and the adiabatic flame temperature for the formulations considered, showing a maximum predicted temperature near 20 % Al. Also, burning rate measurements were conducted on the 3D printed formulations in order to quantify their combustion performance. When burning in air, a maximum burning rate was found to occur at the slightly fuel‐rich condition of 30 % Al. Upon completion of the characterization, the trade‐off between mechanical performance and combustion performance was visualized by plotting critical MESM design parameters against one another.

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