In Search of Alternative Fire Suppressants.
In Search of Alternative Fire Suppressants.
(874 K)
Grosshandler, W. L.
Thermal Science and Engineering Symposium in Honor of
Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien. Proceedings. November 1995,
Berkeley, CA, 275-282 pp, 1995.
Keywords:
halon 1301; extinguishment; aircraft fires; fire
protection; fire suppression; thermodynamic properties
Abstract:
The common fire fighting agent halon 1301 (CF3Br) is
among a number of halogenated chemicals that are
sufficiently deleterious to stratospheric ozone that
their continued production and use has been severely
curtailed. Halons had been the agents of choice for
numerous fire protection applications because of their
inherent ability to inhibit flames at low concentrations
with no residue while exhibiting a number of additional
strongly positive attributes. The elimination of new
production of halon has forced the fire suppression
systems manufacturers, the transportation and
communications industries, and other large users of
these products to search for suitable alternatives. If
the alternative chemicals are less efficient
suppressants, then new, larger agent storage and
delivery components need to be designed. To avoid
costly mistakes in choosing replacements for aircraft
applications, research has been conducted to determine
the performance of different agents in extinguishing
aircraft-type fires. This paper describes the major
elements of the overall program and the rationale of how
an alternative to halon 1301 was chosen for aircraft
applications.
