Evaluation of African padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii) explosion dust

Abstract

The article describes the granulometric analysis of airborne wood dust of African padauk (Pterocarpus soyauxii). Sandpaper was used under industrial relevant conditions to generate wood dust with a relatively wide particle size distribution (<63, 63, 71, 100, 200, 315, or 500 µm). This article aimed to perform a sieve analysis of the wood dust of African Padauk, characterize its morphological structure, determine certain physical properties (density, bulk density, and moisture content), and assess the effect of airborne dust particle size on minimum ignition temperatures. The 100-μm fraction was the most frequent dust particle size and represented 42.14 ± 1.049%. The ignition temperature of airborne dust was 390 °C for the 500-μm fraction and 370 °C for the 71-μm fraction.