SE-99-19-1 -- Flammability Estimation and Fitting to Experimental Data for Complex Mixtures PDF

Flammability test procedures involve understanding and predicting the consequences of testing the material at the concentration and conditions under study. A failure to do this properly can lead to a disruption in the laboratory's equipment and personnel. Since combustion is a chemical process and governed by thermodynamic laws, the tools of chemical thermodynamics can lead to a great deal of understanding. Calculating adiabatic flame temperatures/chemical equilibrium has been used for modeling and predicting the flammability of hydrocarbons. Here we extend this work to halogenated materials. The chemistry of the combustion for refrigerants involves different products and interaction of reactants than the combustion of hydrocarbons. These differences can be studied using combustion modeling, calculating adiabatic flame temperatures as has been performed for hydrocarbons. The process of predicting flammability from calculating adiabatic flame temperatures/chemical equilibrium is demonstrated and insight gained from this method is discussed. When experimental data are available these calculation methods lead to a powerful tool to interpolate limited data. The effect of initial conditions (temperature and pressure) are predicted and discussed.

Units: I-P