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Flame propagation characteristics and combustion mechanism of FeOOH-coated zirconium particles

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Abstract

Zirconium (Zr) particles are coated with ferric oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) nanoparticles to form a core–shell structure, and this process alters the combustion performance of the zirconium particles. This study explored the flame propagation characteristics and combustion mechanism of FeOOH-coated zirconium particles. A high-speed observation system was used to reveal the flame propagation velocities and temperatures, and scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry (TG), and X-ray diffraction were used to examine and elucidate the combustion mechanism of FeOOH-coated zirconium particles. The results showed that when the concentration was increased, the flame propagation velocities of pure zirconium dust cloud were higher than those of FeOOH-coated zirconium dust cloud with the molar ratio of 1:6, which in turn were higher than the molar ratio of 1:3 due to the zirconium content. With increasing the concentration from 0.313 to 0.938 kg m−3, the temperatures of FeOOH-coated zirconium dust cloud with the molar ratio of 1:6 and 1:3 both were no peak. Moreover, the temperatures of FeOOH-coated zirconium dust cloud with the molar ratio of 1:6 were always higher than those with the molar ratio of 1:3. There were three phases of mass loss FeOOH-coated zirconium particles by TG test. The first phase of mass loss was because of evaporation of the FeOOH-coated zirconium particles, and the second phase of mass loss was the generation of Fe2O3 because of dehydroxylation of FeOOH. The third phase of mass loss was the residual of thermal decomposition due to Fe3O4 being formed from Fe2O3. It was also concluded that a replacement reaction occurred between Zr and Fe2O3 in the combustion process, and pure Fe is oxidized to Fe3O4 at high temperatures.

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Abbreviations

C p :

Specific heat (J kg−1 K−1)

d :

Point diameter of the thermocouple (m)

k f :

Thermal conductivity of ambient air (W m−1 K−1)

Nu :

Nusselt number, \(Nu = 2 + 0.6Re^{0.5} Pr^{0.33}\)

Pr :

Prandtl number, \(Pr = \frac{{\mu C_{\text{p}} }}{k}\)

Re :

Reynolds number, \(Re = \frac{\rho \nu D}{\eta }\)

T :

Compensation of the temperature value measured by the thermocouple (°C)

T m :

Temperature measured by the thermocouple (°C)

τ :

Time constant of the thermocouple

ρ :

Density (g cm−3)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Scientific Research Program funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51504190); Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. HZ2013-KF13); Shaanxi Provincial Education Department (Grant No. 2013JK0947); China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2013M530430); Shaanxi Province Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2013-10-1-29); Postdoctoral Starting up Foundation of Xi’an University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 2016QDJ013); International Science and Technology Cooperation Project of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2016KW-070).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Energy and Resources, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710054, China

    Qiuhong Wang, Jun Deng, Chi-Min Shu, Zhenmin Luo & Bo Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Fire Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, 230026, China

    Jinhua Sun

  3. Center for Process Safety and Industrial Disaster Prevention, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Douliu, Yunlin, 64002, Taiwan

    Chi-Min Shu

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  1. Qiuhong Wang
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  2. Jun Deng
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  3. Jinhua Sun
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  5. Zhenmin Luo
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Correspondence to Jinhua Sun.

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Wang, Q., Deng, J., Sun, J. et al. Flame propagation characteristics and combustion mechanism of FeOOH-coated zirconium particles. J Therm Anal Calorim 126, 649–657 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-016-5545-0

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