A study and testing program have resulted in the development of new water-soluble surfactants of the per fluorocarbon type capable of forming vapor-securing foams and films on the surface of low-flashpoint flammable fuels of the gasoline type. Equipment has been designed and developed for successful one-man application of these foams immediately following flame extinction with the free-radical quenching agent, potassium bicarbonate dry chemical, on a pound-for-pound basis. Problems of foam collapse, usually encountered where dry chemicals and vapor-securing foam agents are used together, are nonexistent with the new per fluorocarbon foam surfactant. Surface films made up of water solutions of these surfactants continually draining from the foam matrix are capable of regeneration, and the material shows at least a 1200-percent increase in efficiency when compared with protein-type air foams used under identical fire-fighting conditions. Because of its action on low-density hydro-carbon surfaces, the new foam has been named "Light Water."
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