Experimental evaluation of fire and explosion hazards of reactive substances

Abstract

Experimental evaluation is essential for highly reliable assessment of the fire and explosion hazards from reactive substances. The chapter describes better techniques of evaluation and analysis. A description is given of a screening test that can be safely done with a comparatively small amount of sample in a short period of time. The heat of decomposition and the extrapolated decomposition temperature of self-reactive substances are determined by sealed cell – differential scanning calorimetry (SC – DSC) {or sealed cell – differential thermal analysis (SC – DTA)}, and fire and explosion hazards may be estimated from these parameters. Thermal analysis test evaluates the explosiveness of solid or liquid substances. For this purpose, measurements are made of the exothermic characteristics due to self-reactivity, such as the decomposition reaction induced in association with a rise in test article temperature. The chapter also discusses impact sensitivity tests, the order of sensitivity for highly sensitive substances, the ignitability test, burning test, and such other tests. © 1995, Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved