Ignition behavior of dusts: Meaning and interpretation

Abstract The minimum ignition energy and minimum ignition temperature of dust‐air‐mixtures are important technical safety indices. They are used for the assessment of the efficacy of the ignition sources expected in dust‐air mixtures. First of all, the test apparatus and the determination procedures are introduced, including the significant parameters on the mentioned indices. Finally, the correlations are described between—the minimum ignition energy and the efficacy of electrostatic sparks, —the minimum ignition energy and the minimum ignition temperature and the mechanically generated sparks on the on hand, the limiting oxygen concentration and the limiting gap width of combustible dusts on the other hand, —the minimum ignition temperature and hot steel surfaces (mechanically generated hot surfaces) or glowing particle nests surfaces.