Pressure Relief by Means of Porous Materials

摘要

Electrical equipment for use in surroundings with explosion hazards can be constructed in the type of protection 'flameproof enclosure'. In the case of failure, these enclosures have to withstand the emerging explosion pressure and must therefore be constructed with an enormous material effort. To implement more efficient enclosure constructions, it is planned to integrate new, permeable materials as part of the enclosure to reduce the maximum explosion pressures. In previous studies it was shown that besides traditional sintered metals, also sintered metal fibres are principally applicable regarding their stability to withstand explosion pressure and have the potential to be used as new constructional elements. Therefore, different porous materials are investigated in terms of their ability to relieve pressure and their stability. Due to the results of these experiments it should, thus, be possible to make a first qualifying statement about the fundamental applicability of such materials.