SILICON GRINDING SAFETY: THE EFFECT OF CALCIUM DISILICIDE ON THE EXPLOSION POTENTIAL OF SILICON POWDER

摘要

The GE Silicones requirement that all silicon supplied to Waterford, NY be free of calcium disilicide was eliminated in 1998. Based on then-current data in the 1960's, GE Silicones accepted for many years the premise that the presence of calcium disilicide in silicon increased the probability of an explosion in the silicon grinding operation. Pechiney Electrometallurgie produced laboratory data that indicated no correlation between calcium content and minimum ignition energy of silicon with calcium content up to 0.30%. Minimum ignition energy was used to quantify the explosivity of silicon powder. Partial nitrogen inerting is the preferred method of GE to minimize the chance of a silicon dust explosion. The advantages of maintaining long-term technical relationships between silicon producers and silicon users were highlighted with this project.