Constructing fibrous-like skeleton by simulated sea mud to improve three-phase foam for stability and fire-extinguishing performance

Combining the three-phase foam and simulated sea mud particle (SM-P: simulated sea mud particle) containing inert substances (SMTP: simulated sea mud three-phase foam) to engineer a new three-phase foam fire extinguishing material was a viable strategy to solve the problem of coal mine spontaneous combustion prevention and insufficient stability of mine fire extinguishing materials. Herein, based on constant temperature heating table and simulated coal spontaneous combustion fire extinguishing device, the experiments were conducted to evaluate the material properties. As expected, the SMTP-20 exhibited excellent stability (73.00 mins at 40 °C), which was 2.19 times that of ordinary three-phase foam (34.33 mins at 40 °C). The introduction of SM-P can also effectively reduce the thermal decomposition of powdered coal, the corresponding temperature of thermal decomposition peak value of raw coal was delayed 17.78 °C. The SMTP-20 could construct a thin fibrous-like foam layer with SM-P to cover the surface of burning coal and effectively seal cracks in the coal from oxygen contact, thereby preventing coal further oxidation. This work not only offers a new three-phase foam with outstanding performance, but also unravels a strategy for preparing three-phase foam with high stability and good fire extinguishing effect.