Ignition and combustion of organic dusts in shock waves

Abstract

The ignition of dusts behind a shock wave is discussed, and some results on ignition are presented. Two groups of results can be distinguished. One of these contains the dusts ignited in the incident wave, the other those ignited in the reflected wave. The effect of the manner of distributing the dust, the type of oxidizer, and the nature of the measuring apparatus are illustrated. The results of ignition research are suitable for estimating the tendency of dusts to detonating combustion. The possibility of detonation in dust mixtures is demonstrated through experimental results on the transition from flame to detonation in a mixture of coal dust and air in the research drift of the ''Barbara'' experimental mine. The development in the dust mixtures hardest to ignite--a mixture of dust and air--leads the authors to conclude that under suitable conditions most organic dusts are capable of detonation.