How To Make Thermite

Thermite is a highly combustible mixture of a metal powder and metal oxide.  It produces a flash reaction known as a the thermite reaction. It is not explosive, but it can create short bursts of extremely high temperatures concentrated in a narrow area for a very short period of time.
Thermite can consist of a diverse class of materials.  The fuels used are often metals such as aluminium, magnesium, calcium, titanium, zinc, silicon, and boron.  The oxidizing materials in the mix can be boron oxide, silicon oxide, chromium oxide, manganese oxide, iron oxide, copper oxide, or lead oxide.  Other metal oxides can also be used.  They might be chromium oxide that generates elementary metals.

The most common thermite used today is a mixture of aluminium powder and iron oxide.  Aluminium is ideal for use in making thermite.  It is by far the cheapest of the highly reactive metals, and it also forms a passivation layer making it safer to handle than many of the other reactive metals.  Thermite is used for repairs such as in welding in-place thick steel sections of a project such as locomotive axle-frames where the repair can take place without removing the part from its installed location. Thermite can also be used for quickly cutting or welding steel such used as rail tracks.
 
What A Thermite Bomb Is

Thermite bombs were used by both German and Allied foreces during World War II.  These incendiary bombs usually consisted of dozens of thin thermite-filled canisters that were ignited by a magnesium fuse.  Incendiary bombs destroyed entire cities due to raging fires resulting from their use. Cities consisting primarily of wooden buildings were especially vulnerable.

Thermites are generally very safe to mix and store. They are not shock or friction sensitive and ignite at about 2000 degrees.

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