Suppression effects of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate dry powder and melamine pyrophosphate powder on an aluminium dust cloud explosion

Selecting a suitable flame-retardant powder is essential for preventing or reducing the risk of aluminium dust cloud explosions. Two types of retardant materials were studied, namely ABC powder (a flame-retardant powder mainly composed of ammonium dihydrogen phosphate dry powder) and melamine pyrophosphate powder (MPP). A specially designed rectangular pipe was used to examine the influences and mass fractions of the aforementioned flame retardants and the effects of compounds on maximum explosion pressure and maximum explosion pressure rate of increase. The results showed that the explosion-suppression effects of MPP powder were superior to those of ABC powder. Furthermore, the suppression effects of combining ABC and MPP to form compounds in various ratios were explored. The explosion-suppression effects of the single flame-retardant powders and flame-retardant powder compound were compared, which revealed that the effects of the flame-retardant compound were intermediate to those of ABC and MPP used separately. No synergistic effect was observed in the compound retardant. However, component mass fractions influenced the retardant properties of the compound. The suppression mechanism was investigated through thermal analysis, which revealed that the decomposition of the two flame-retardant powders was an endothermic process that generated inert gas. The addition of flame-retardant powder delayed the time required by aluminium to break through its oxide film. However, the thermal analysis curve of the compound overlapped those of the two single powders, and no new chemical reaction occurred. Thus, no change was observed in the efficacy of the flame-retardant properties.