Metal dusts explosion hazards and protection

Many industrial processes handle, use, or produce metallic particles small enough to explode in air, thus posing severe explosion hazards. Finishing operations, for example, create very fine particles and have been involved in a growing number of accidents in recent years. New emerging processes, such as 3D printing, are being rapidly...

Scaling up metal dusts deflagrations severity

Explosion hazards of aluminum finishing operations

Metal dust deflagrations have become increasingly common in recent years. They are also more devastating than deflagrations involving organic materials, owing to metals' higher heat of combustion, rate of pressure rise, explosion pressure and flame temperature. Aluminum finishing operations offer a particularly significant hazard from the...

Igniter-induced hybrids in the 20-l sphere

Dust explosibility is traditionally described by two parameters, namely the maximum explosion pressure, P_max, and the deflagration index, K_St, usually determined through testing in a closed, pressure-resistant spherical vessel, either 20 L or 1 m³ in volume. These parameters constitute key variables in the...