Products of Combustion of the Metal Powders

Abstract

Sophistication in the aviation and warfare technologies has significantly increased the use of metals such as aluminium, magnesium and their alloys for numerous applications. The resulting fires of such metals are probably one of the most dominating and devastating risks if the metals are in the form of fine particles. The work consists of determination of the constituents of the various combustion products after the burning of the magnesium, aluminium and aluminium-magnesium alloy powder heaps on the sand bed. The analysis of the ground products of burnt metal powders on the sand bed has been carried out by using X-ray diffractometer. It is found that oxides and nitrides were the predominant fractions of the combustion products of the metal powders. Interestingly, it is also found that the combustion products of the aluminium, and the aluminium-magnesium alloy powder heap on the sand bed contain free aluminium also.