Characterization of Particulate From Fires Burning Silicone Fluids

Published

December 1, 2001

Author(s)

Y Sivathanu, Anthony P. Hamins, George W. Mulholland, Takashi Kashiwagi, R Buch

Abstract

The optical properties of particulate emitted from fires burning two distinct polydimethylsiloxane fluids (D4 and M2 or MM, where D=(CH3)2SiO and M=(CH3)3SiO2) were obtained using a transmission cell-reciprocal nephelometer in conjunction with gravimetric sampling. The specific absorption coefficient of particulate ash from fires burning D4 and MM is significantly lower than that of particulate soot from an acetylene (hydrocarbon) flame. Scattering is the dominant part of extinction in fires burning the silicone fluids. This is very different from extinction by soot particles in hydrocarbon fires, where absorption is approximately five times greater than scattering. Temperatures and particulate volume fractions along the axis of a silicone fire (D4) were measured using multiwavelength absorption/emission spectroscopy. The structure of the D4 flames is markedly different from hydrocarbon flames. The temperatures and particulate volume fractions very close to the burner surface are much higher than in comparably sized hydrocarbon flames.

Citation

Journal of Heat Transfer-Transactions of the ASME

Volume

123

Issue

No. 6

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

silicone, combustion, heat transfer, particulates

Citation

Sivathanu, Y. , Hamins, A. , Mulholland, G. , Kashiwagi, T. and Buch, R. (2001), Characterization of Particulate From Fires Burning Silicone Fluids, Journal of Heat Transfer-Transactions of the ASME, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=909553 (Accessed October 20, 2025)