Study on the effects of carbon nanotubes and xanthan gum on the performance of hydrocarbon surfactant foam systems

Abstract

To improve the foam stability and fire extinguishing efficiency of fluorine-free foam (FFF) extinguishing agents, xanthan gum (XG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were selected as the foam stabilizer agents in this study to investigate their effects on the physical and chemical properties and fire suppression effectiveness of FFF system. The effects of the four factors, namely, α-olefin sulfonic acid Salts (AOS), YT-Y762, XG, and CNTs, on the foam performance were investigated using L9(34) orthogonal design method. Three FFF solutions were selected based on the following four parameters: surface tension, 25% drainage time, foam height, and viscosity. The physicochemical properties, fire extinguishing, and burnback performance of the three FFF solutions were investigated. The results indicated that XG and CNTs have synergistic effects on the FFF solution, and the addition of 0.2 wt% of XG and 0.4 wt% of CNTs increased the 25 % drainage time by 81.40 %. The fire extinguishing performance was effectively improved. The results show the potential application of carbon nanotubes in FFF extinguishing agents.