Suppression of wood dust explosion by ultrafine magnesium hydroxide

The suppression effects of ultrafine Mg (OH)(2) powders with different particle sizes and mass fractions on explosion flame of wood dust are experimentally studied in a half-closed vertical experimental duct. Flame structures and characteristic parameters, including flame light emission images, propagation velocity, temperature, during the flame propagation of wood dust explosion are recorded by high-speed photography and fine thermocouple. Thermal decomposition behaviors of wood dust and Mg(OH)(2) powders are studied using synchronous thermal analyzer. Chemical structures of residual dust samples after the explosion are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The experimental results show that explosion flame of wood dust is obviously suppressed by physical and chemical effects of Mg(OH)(2) powders, and the suppression effect of nano-Mg(OH)(2) is better than that of micron-Mg(OH)(2) under same mass fractions. By analyzing multiple characteristics of nano-powders, the advantages of nano-Mg(OH)(2) over micron-powders are further investigated.