EXPLOSIBILITY OF MICRON- AND NANO-SIZE TITANIUM POWDERS

Abstract

The current research is aimed at investigating the explosion behaviour of hazardous materials in relation to particle size. The materials of study are titanium powders having size distributions in both the micron- and nano-size ranges with nominal size distributions: -100 mesh, -325 mesh, ?20 ?m, 150 nm, 60-80 nm, and 40-60 nm. The explosibility parameters investigated explosion severity and explosion likelihood for both size ranges of titanium. Tests include, maximum explosion pressure (Pmax), maximum rate of pressure rise ((dP/dt)max), minimum explosible concentration (MEC), minimum ignition energy (MIE), minimum ignition temperature (MIT) and dust inerting using nano-titanium dioxide. ASTM protocols were followed using standard dust explosibility test equipment (Siwek 20-L explosion chamber, MIKE 3 apparatus, and BAM oven). The explosion behaviour of the micron-size titanium has been characterized to provide a baseline study for the nano-size testing, however, nano-titanium dust explosion research presented major experimental challenges using the 20-L explosion chamber.