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Effect of simulated combustion atmospheres on oxidation and microstructure evolution of aluminum alloy 5052
Author(s) -
Xie Dongbai,
Wang Wen,
Lv Shilei,
Shan Guo
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.2490
Subject(s) - microstructure , alloy , combustion , oxide , materials science , metallurgy , thermogravimetric analysis , aluminium , scanning electron microscope , composite material , chemical engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , engineering
Summary Among the common materials, metals can be hardly destroyed by flame or the heat emanating from a normal fire. Consequently, investigation on the thermal patterns produced on metallic objects after fire exposure can provide important physical evidence for fire cause/origin determination. Aluminum alloy is widely used in our daily life and the industry; hence, it can be easily found on a domestic or industrial fire scene. In this paper, the aluminum alloy 5052 was exposed in the simulated combustion gases with and without kerosene in the range of 300 to 500°C. Mass change, morphologies, and microstructures of each sample were carefully characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, morphologic observation, and electron microscopy observation with energy‐dispersive spectroscopy analysis after exposure. As expected, the microstructure of alloy changed during high temperature exposure. At the same time, an oxide scale formed and was thickened on the surface of alloy. The results reveal that the temperature can significantly affect the growth of oxide scale and the metallurgical microstructure of alloy. It is noteworthy that the presence of kerosene in the combustion gas accelerated oxidation rate and produced oxide scales different from those formed in air. These feature evolutions in surface oxide are expected to offer complementary insight on determining the fire characteristics, such as the exposure temperature, period and whether liquid accelerant is involved.