Synonyms
Sparks. The term “spark” can refer to either a non-sustained electrical discharge or a small, airborne, incandescent body. In the latter meaning, “hot metal particles” and “sparks” are synonyms.
Definitions
Hot metal particles considered in this section are small (a few millimeters or less) particles which are ejected from some process while heated to an incandescent state and can potentially act as ignition sources for a fuel.
Grinding sparks are hot metal particles created by a grinding operation.
Impact sparks are hot metal particles created due to a high-speed collision of two hard objects.
Introduction
A common cause for ignition of wildland fires are hot metal particles. These can come from numerous sources or activities (Babrauskas 2003; Mitchell 2009):
Railroads
Electric power lines (from conductor clashing, broken insulators, downed conductors, etc.)
Welding or torch-cutting metals
Grinding
Impact of power tools
Ignition of vegetation may be smoldering or flaming, but...
References
Anon (2013) Standard for fire prevention during welding, cutting, and other hot work (NFPA 51B). NFPA, Quincy
Babrauskas V (2003) Ignition handbook. Fire Science Publishers/Soc Fire Prot Eng, Issaquah
Babrauskas V (2005) Risk of ignition of forest fires from black powder or muzzle-loading firearms. Report for US Forest Service, San Dimas T&D Center
Babrauskas V (2018) Engineering guidance for smoldering fires. J Fire Invest Res Eng, to be published
Chen JH et al (1989) A study of the mechanism for globular metal transfer from covered electrodes. Weld J 65(4):145-s–150-s
Farrall GA, Hudda FG, Toney JG (1983) The time-resolved characterization of erosion products from high-current, copper vacuum arcs. IEEE Trans Plasma Sci 11:132–138
Finney MA et al (2016) A study of wildfire ignition by rifle bullets. Fire Tech 52:933–954
Frank-Kamenetskii DA (1969) Diffusion and heat transfer in chemical kinetics, 2nd edn. Plenum Press, New York
Gilbert/Commonwealth (1979) Transmission line reference book. Wind-induced conductor motion. Based on EPRI research project 792, EPRI, Menlo Park
Gol’dshleger UI et al (1973) Ignition of a condensed explosive by a hot object of finite dimensions. Combust Explosion Shock Waves 9:99–102
Hadden RM (2011) Ignition of combustible fuel beds by hot particles: an experimental and theoretical study. Fire Tech 47:341–355
Hagimoto Y et al (1998) Scattering and ignite ng properties of sparks generated in an arc welding. 6th Indo Pacific Congress on Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INPALMS), Yoyodo, pp 863–866
Hagimoto Y et al (2007) A short-circuit as an ignition source. Interflam 2007:1555–1560
Hagiwara T et al (1982) Ignition risk to combustibles by welding spatter (in Japanese). J Jpn Assn Fire Sci Engrg 32(5):8–12
Hölemann H, Worpenberg R (1987) Untersuchungen zur Entstehung von Bränden durch Schweißen, Schneiden und verwandte Verfahren – Temperatur, Geschwindigkeit, GrÖße und Wärmeinhalt von Brennschneidschlacketeilchen, Schweißen und Schneiden 39(7):315–321
Hölemann H, Worpenberg R (1992) Brandursache Schweißen, Brennschneiden und Löten – Zündmechanismen glühender Partikel. VFDB Z 41:79–89
Howitt DG (2015) An assessment of hot metal fragments from heavy mechanical equipment as a potential ignition source for forest litter. J Fire Sci 33:427–444
Jones JC (1995) Improved calculations concerning the ignition of forest litter by hot particle ingress. J Fire Sci 13:350–356
Kim YS, Eagar TW (1993) Analysis of metal transfer in gas metal arc welding. Weld J 72(6):269-s–276-s
Lewis K (2017) Hot particle ignition from arcing as a wildland fire cause. 2017 Wildland Fire Litigation Conf, San Diego
Libershal B (1989) Target shooting, automatic rifles and steel core bullets. Wildfire Strikes Home 3(1):8–9
Liñán A, Kindelán M (1981) Ignition of a reactive solid by an inert hot spot. In: Progress in astronautics and aeronautics, vol 76. AIAA, New York, pp 412–426
Look A D (1948) Underground metal-mine fires from cutting and welding (IC 7453). Bureau of Mines
Messler RW Jr (1999) Principles of welding. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim
Mikkelsen K (2014) An experimental investigation of ignition propensity of hot work processes in the nuclear industry (M.S. thesis), Univ Waterloo, Canada
Mills AF, Hang X (1984) Trajectories of sparks from arcing aluminum power cables. Fire Tech 20:5–14
Mitchell J W (2009) Power lines and catastrophic wildland fire in southern California. Proc 11th Fire & Mater Conf
Okegawa S et al (1996) Measurement of distance and ignition tests to gases by welding spatter (in Japanese). J Jpn Soc Saf Engrg 5(2):112–119
Rallis CJ, Mangaya BM (2002) Ignition of veld grass by hot aluminium particles ejected from clashing overhead transmission lines. Fire Tech 38:81–92
Rogers RL et al (2006) Ignition of dust clouds and dust deposits by friction sparks and hotspots. Hazards XIX, paper 24, IChemE
Rowntree GWG, Stokes AD (1994) Fire ignition by aluminium particles of controlled size. J Electr Electron Eng Aust 14:117–123
Schōnherr W (1982) Fire risks with welding torches and manual arc welding – globules, spatter and how far they can be thrown. Schweiss Schneid 34(4):E74–E77
Stokes AD (1990) Fire ignition by copper particles of controlled size. J Electr Electron Eng Aust 10:188–194
Stokes AD (2001) Fire ignition by electrically produced incandescent particles. Dept Elec Eng, Univ Sydney, Australia
Tanaka K et al (1997) Research on the locus and the velocity of spatter in shielded metal arc welding (in Japanese). Q J Jpn Weld Soc 15(2):247–253
Tanaka T (1977) On the inflammability of combustible materials by welding spatter (in Japanese). Rep Natl Res Inst Police Sci 30(1):51–58
Tse SD, Fernandez-Pello AC (1998) On the flight paths of metal particles and embers generated by power lines in high winds – potential source of wildland fires. Fire Saf J 30:333–356
van Wingerden K et al (2011) Ignition of dust layers by mechanical sparks. Loss Prev Symp, AIChE
Way PT (2017) Vegetation management and powerlines, 2017 Wildland fire litigation conf, San Diego
Zak CD (2015) The effect of particle properties on hot particle spot fire ignition (Ph.D. diss), Univ Calif Berkeley
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Babrauskas, V. (2018). Hot Metal Particles. In: Manzello, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_2-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_2-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8
eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering