Flame suppression ability of metallocenes (nickelocene, cobaltcene,ferrocene, manganocene, and chromocene)

摘要

This article reports experimental investigation of flame suppression ability of metallocenes. In this study, chromocene (CrCp_2), manganocene (MnCp_2), ferrocene (FeCp_2), cobaltcene (CoCp_2), and nickelocene (NiCp_2) are used. The experiments are conducted by combusting a filter paper on which the metallocene is absorbed, by thermogravimetric measurement for metallocene/cellulose systems, and by burning a solution of the metallocene in n-pentane. Their suppression abilities are characterized by three parameters: extinction limit; activation energy of degradation; and burning rate of the liquid fuel. These experiments confirm that (i) the metallocenes offer better flame suppression ability compared to ammonium dihydrogen phosphate, which is a conventional fire extinguishing agent; (ii) the metallocenes can exhibit the suppression effect not in solid phase but in gas phase; (iii) the suppression ability is in order of CrCp_2 > MnCp_2 > FeCp-2 > CoCp_2 > NiCp_2, i.e., the metallocenes are arranged in order of the atomic number of their central metal. Although the metallocenes (except FeCp_2) are chemically unstable, they are expected to be an excellent flame suppressant.