Autoignition hazards

The cure reaction of structural acrylic adhesives can be started by any of a great number of redox reactions. One commonly used redox couple is the reaction of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) with tertiary aromatic amines. Pure BPO is hazardous when dry [39]. It is susceptible to explosion from shock, friction or heat, and has an autoignition temperature of 79°C. Water is a very effective stabilizer for BPO, and so the initiator is often available as a paste or a moist solid [40], The... 

Hazard, i.e. the potential of the material to cause injury under certain conditions (flammability, explosion limits in air, ignition and autoignition temperatures, static electricity (explosions have occurred during drying due to static electricity), dust explosion, boiling point, fire protection (specification of extinguishers, compounds formed when firing), R S (nature of special risk and safety precautions). Table 5.2-5 lists hazards associated with typical chemical reactions. 

It is unusual in being flammable with so high a chlorine content (70%), and mixtures with air may detonate if confined when ignited. One case of spontaneous ignition under ambient conditions was observed [1], It has an unusually low autoignition temperature (43 3°C). A survey of hazards and combustion is found in [2], There is a risk of combustion with fluorochloromethanes. Autoignition was observed on contact with traces of a mixture of alkali nitrates/nitrite. 

However, to focus attention on the potential hazards always associated with the use of flammable and especially highly flammable substances, some 560 gases and liquids with flash points below 25° C and/or autoignition temperature below 225°C have been included in the text, their names prefixed with a dagger. The numerical values of the fire hazard-related properties of flashpoint, autoignition temperature and explosive (flammability) limits in air where known are given in the tabular Appendix 2. Those elements or compounds which ignite on exposure to air are included in the text, but not in the Table. 

The complex and incompletely understood phenomena of cool flames and then-close relationship with autoignition processes is discussed in considerable detail. As the temperature of mixtures of organic vapours with air is raised, the rate of autoxidation (hydroperoxide formation) will increase, and some substances under some circumstances of heating rate, concentration and pressure will generate cool flames at up to 200° C or more below their normally determined AIT. Cool flames (peroxide decomposition processes) are normally only visible in the dark, are of low temperature and not in themselves hazardous. However, quite small changes in thermal flux, pressure, or composition may cause transition to hot flame conditions, usually after some delay, and normal ignition will then occur if the composition of the mixture is within the flammable limits. 

Salts of O-alkyldithiocarbonatcs ( xanthates ) are hazardous as dusts, forming explosive suspensions in air. The lower-alkyl salts are claimed to be explosive in the solid state when dry [1]. Explosions reported when drying hydrated xanthate salts are probably the consequence of release of carbon disulphide to form an inflammable atmosphere of very low autoignition temperature in the oven [2], Xanthate esters are thermally unstable by a variety of eliminations and rearrangements, all distinctly exothermic and many evolving extremely flammable gases and vapours. Free xanthic acids, which may be isolated on acidification, decompose autocatalytically and perhaps explosively [3],... 

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