Thermites are powerful energetic materials able to release large amounts of energy in a self-propagating reaction. They have been widely applied in rail welding, pyrotechnics, and material synthesis, as they are highly exothermic. In recent years, there has been an increased interest on applying a thermite reaction in the plug and abandonment of wells due to the possibility of reducing the high cost of this process. However, some primary studies are required to understand these energetic materials and to select the most efficient thermite mixtures to be applied in a plug and abandonment scenario. Although they do not react as simple condensed-phase reactions because of all the complex physicochemical mechanisms involved, they can be characterized and understood by simple principles of thermodynamics. As so, this research presents the importance of the Gibbs free energy concept to determine the candidates of a thermite reaction, in addition to showing how important characteristics of these reactions such as adiabatic temperature and heat released can be calculated using thermodynamic principles. Lastly, the minimization of Gibbs free energy method for determining the final products of a reaction, considering chemical equilibrium, is presented and applied to predict the final products, as a function of temperature, for some of the most powerful thermite mixtures. The conclusion is that, although the 2Al–Fe\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) thermite reaction has the lower mass and volumetric heat of combustion in comparison with the 2Al–3CuO and 3Be–Fe\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) thermites, it can reach the highest adiabatic temperature observed due to the lower gaseous mass fraction in the products, which means fewer heat losses due to phase changes. So, the thermite mixture 2Al–Fe\(_{2}\)O\(_{3}\) is a promising candidate for the plug and abandonment of mature oil wells.

铝热剂是一种强大的高能材料，能够在自传播反应中释放大量能量。由于它们具有高度放热性，因此它们已广泛应用于轨道焊接、烟火和材料合成。近年来，由于有可能降低该过程的高成本，人们对在堵塞和弃井中应用铝热剂反应越来越感兴趣。然而，需要进行一些初步研究来了解这些含能材料并选择最有效的铝热剂混合物以应用于堵塞和废弃场景。尽管由于涉及所有复杂的物理化学机制，它们不像简单的凝聚相反应那样反应，但它们可以通过简单的热力学原理来表征和理解。如此一来，该研究展示了吉布斯自由能概念在确定铝热反应候选者方面的重要性，此外还展示了如何使用热力学原理计算这些反应的重要特性，例如绝热温度和释放的热量。最后，考虑到化学平衡，用于确定反应最终产物的吉布斯自由能最小化方法被提出并应用于预测最终产物，作为温度的函数，对于一些最强大的铝热剂混合物。结论是，虽然 2Al-Fe 最后，考虑到化学平衡，用于确定反应最终产物的吉布斯自由能最小化方法被提出并应用于预测最终产物，作为温度的函数，对于一些最强大的铝热剂混合物。结论是，虽然 2Al-Fe 最后，考虑到化学平衡，用于确定反应最终产物的吉布斯自由能最小化方法被提出并应用于预测最终产物，作为温度的函数，对于一些最强大的铝热剂混合物。结论是，虽然 2Al-Fe\(_{2}\) O \(_{3}\)铝热反应比 2Al–3CuO 和 3Be–Fe \(_{2}\) O \( _{3}\)铝热剂，由于产品中的气体质量分数较低，它可以达到观察到的最高绝热温度，这意味着相变引起的热损失更少。因此，铝热剂混合物 2Al-Fe \(_{2}\) O \(_{3}\)是成熟油井堵塞和废弃的有希望的候选者。