Abstract
Aluminum powder has been widely applied to various industries. However, its high activity and high burn rate can cause serious explosion risks. Many factors affecting the explosion of aluminum powder have been determined, yet moisture content has not been included. In the present work, the minimum explosible concentrations of aluminum powders with different moisture contents were measured with a 20-liter explosion test apparatus using the explosion accident in Kunshan, China, as a study case. The experimental results suggest that the minimum explosible concentration of aluminum powder dramatically increases with the increase of its moisture content first and the increasing trend becomes slower as the moisture content further increased. The oxidation time has no significant effects on the minimum explosible concentration of aluminum power in 8 hours at room temperature. Further investigation suggests that the moisture lowers the explosion risk of aluminum powder by altering its surface oxide film, ignition, and combustion process. The low contents of moisture in the range of 0%-8% increase the minimum explosible concentration of aluminum powder by inhibiting the reaction kinetics and particle agglomeration, while high contents of moistures in the range of 8%-20% affect the minimum explosible concentration by the endothermic effect and oxygen dilution effect.
Highlights
The industrial dust explosions in agriculture, pharmaceutical, and metal processing are an important research topic in safety management [1,2,3]
It is linearly increased by 50%, from 40 g/m3 to 60 g/m3, as the moisture content increased from 0% to 8%, and only gradually increased by 8.3%, e.g., from 60 g/m3 to 65 g/m3, as the moisture content further increased
The results suggest that moisture can lower the explosion risk of aluminum powder
Summary
The industrial dust explosions in agriculture, pharmaceutical, and metal processing are an important research topic in safety management [1,2,3]. Statistical analyses suggest that 19% of explosion accidents, mostly aluminum powder explosions, are caused by metal oxidation [4]. Micron and nanoaluminum powders are widely used in various industries [5, 6]. Their high activities and high burn rates can result in fatal and devastating explosion accidents without appropriate protections [7, 8]. Li et al [9] systemically analyzed the aluminum powder explosion accident in Kunshan on August 2, 2014. The accident has raised the public awareness of the risks of aluminum powder explosion and promoted the study of aluminum powder explosions under special circumstances
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