Experimental study on the influence of the flame retardants on the flammability of R1234yf

R1234yf has been considered as an alternative refrigerant with the low global warming potential (GWP), but it is flammable. Therefore, it is necessary to study the reduction or inhibition of flammability of R1234yf by different flame retardants. This paper mainly contributed to the influence of two kinds of flame retardants on the flammability of R1234yf. Firstly, the flammability limits of R1234yf and the mixtures of R1234yf/R227ea and R1234yf/R134a were tested out. Then the relationship between their flammability limits characteristics with the ratio of the flame retardants to R1234yf were evaluated by the fitted equations. The critical suppression ratios of R227ea/R1234yf and R134a/R1234yf were obtained. The results indicated that the inhibitory effect of R227ea on R1234yf was better than that of R134a by comparative analysis. Finally, the flame colors and flame propagation velocity characteristics of R1234yf before and after the addition flame retardants were researched and analyzed. The research achievement will be of universal guiding significance for the security application of R1234yf. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.