TY - JOUR
T1 - Fire signatures of spacecraft materials
T2 - Gases and particulates
AU - Vander Wal, Randall L.
AU - Pushkarev, Vladimir
AU - Fujiyama-Novak, Jane H.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by NASA NRA01–OBPR–08 administered through NCC3–975. The assistance of Gordon M. Berger and Daniel Scheiman is gratefully acknowledged.
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - The primary goal of this research is to create a database of fire signatures for practical spacecraft materials in a new combustion facility and to provide recommendations for the development of improved fire sensors for future space exploration. During a fire, foams and plastics can generate three types of residues: condensables, light gases, and particulates (soots). The residues were characterized by gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These analyses were performed as a function of oxygen occurrence, temperature, and convective flow direction relative to the normal gravitational vector. Among the four polymers studied in this work, forced convective flow direction has a great impact upon particulate yield. Variation of light gases with temperature and different atmospheres turn out to be more convoluted. Particulates can be used as fire signature for most of the materials; nevertheless no single species serves as a reliable indicator for any given material.
AB - The primary goal of this research is to create a database of fire signatures for practical spacecraft materials in a new combustion facility and to provide recommendations for the development of improved fire sensors for future space exploration. During a fire, foams and plastics can generate three types of residues: condensables, light gases, and particulates (soots). The residues were characterized by gas chromatography (GC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These analyses were performed as a function of oxygen occurrence, temperature, and convective flow direction relative to the normal gravitational vector. Among the four polymers studied in this work, forced convective flow direction has a great impact upon particulate yield. Variation of light gases with temperature and different atmospheres turn out to be more convoluted. Particulates can be used as fire signature for most of the materials; nevertheless no single species serves as a reliable indicator for any given material.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2011.08.012
DO - 10.1016/j.combustflame.2011.08.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84355161721
SN - 0010-2180
VL - 159
SP - 897
EP - 904
JO - Combustion and Flame
JF - Combustion and Flame
IS - 2
ER -