Spontaneous Ignition of Oil-contaminated Cotton Fabric

✍ Scribed by M. A. Khattab; M. E. ElRafey; A. A. Darwish; S. H. Kandil

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 452 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-0501
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1018(199607)20:4<167::aid-fam570>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of different oil contaminants on the spontaneous ignition behavior of cotton fabric. A series of treated fabrics with different oil contamination percentages was investigated and compared. Measurements were designed and carried out to determine the average time-to-ignition and to study the thermal behavior of systems containing cellulose. The results showed that the time-to-ignition of the contaminated samples has notably decreased, particularly at relatively low temperatures (350450°C). However, at higher temperatures such effects became insignificant. Differential Thermal Analysis measurements were used to explain the mechanism by which the oils affect the thermal behavior of the sample. The heat evolved due to the oxidation of the oil content is sufficient to increase the rate of cotton depolymerization at the expense of the dehydration mechanism. In other words, the heat evolved promotes the formation of volatiles which are not char precursors.