Influence of the oxide content on the ignition energies of aluminium powders

Some results of determination of ignition energies for an aluminium powder with various oxide contents are presented. Common use of processes like high-speed cutting produce explosive dust clouds, so that we focused this study on hazard of metallic powders. An industrial aluminium powder has been used for this work. An original process, based on the principle of electrochemical anodisation, has been developed to increase, under control, the oxide coating of particles.

The sensitivity study to spark ignition was performed in an Hartmann explosion tube of 1.3L. The Langlie test method was applied to evaluate the energies leading to a probability of ignition of 50% (E₅₀) of the selected samples. The results confirm that the ignition energies increase with the oxide content of the powder.