Tag Archives: firefighters

Lightweight nanomaterial for firefighters’ safety suits

This piece of research on firefighters’ safety suits comes from Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). A February 3, 2022 article by Judy Skatssoon for governmentnews.com.au describes the work, (Note: Despite the date of the article, the research is from 2021)

Researchers at ANSTO are developing a new highly protective nano-material they believe will produce light-weight safety suits that are perfect for Australian firefighters.

The technology involves the use of super-thin nanosheets made from a new fire and heat-resistant non-organic compound, thermo-hydraulics specialist Professor Guan Heng Yeoh says.

The compound is created from titanium carbide and produces a lightweight coating which can be used in place of traditional fire protection measures. 

A compound extracted from prawn shells, chitosan, is used to bind the nanomaterial together.

I found more details about the work in a January 25, 2022 ANSTO press release, Note: Links have been removed,

Scientists from UNSW [University of New South Wales] and ANSTO have characterised the structure of advanced materials, that could be used as a lightweight fire-retardant filler.

Fire retardant materials can self-extinguish if they ignite. 

A team under Professor Guan Heng Yeoh, Director of the ARC Training Centre for Fire Retardant Materials and Safety Technologies at UNSW and Thermal-Hydraulic Specialist at ANSTO, are working to commercialise advanced products for bushfire fighting, building protection and other applications.    

They investigated a family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides, carbonites and nitrides, known as MXenes.

In research published in Composites Part C, they reported the molecular structure of MXene, using neutron scattering and other advanced techniques.

Because the stability, properties, and various applications of MXene rely heavily on its atomic and molecular structure,  Prof Yeoh and associates conducted a detailed structural and surface characterisation of MXene.

Knowledge from this research provided good insight on how structure affects electrical, thermoelectric, magnetic and other properties of Mxene.

Experiments at ANSTO’s Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering on the Bilby small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument were undertaken to characterise the two-dimensional structure of nanosheets—revealing the thickness of the material and the gaps between layers.

Theoretical modelling was used to extrapolate key information from the SANS data regarding the structural architecture of the titanium carbide nanosheets and investigate the influence of temperature on the structure.

Measurements revealed that MXene that is suspended in a colloidal solution consists of nanosheets of ultrathin multilayers with clear sharp edges.

The material comprises nanolayers, which overlap each other and form clusters of micro-sized units that endow a level of protection.

The nanolayers can be added on top of organic fire-retardant polymers. The total thickness of MXene was found to be 3 nm.

The information was in alignment with observations made using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.

Senior Instrument scientist Dr Jitendra Mata said, “Using SANS is like looking through a keyhole, the keyhole gives you a size indication from 1 nanometre to 500nm.  It may feel like a small size, but it’s actually not – many physical phenomena and the chemical structure occur within that size range.

“There are not many techniques in the world that gives you information about the structure and surface that accurately in a suspension and in films. Also, neutrons are ideal for many in-situ studies.”

Protective suits made with traditional retardant use as much as 30 to 40 per cent carbon compounds to achieve fire-retardant properties, which makes them heavy.

“Because we can use very low concentrations of the two-dimensional material, it comprises only about 1- 5 per cent of the total weight of the final material,” explained Prof Yeoh.

“And because it can be applied as a post-treatment, it doesn’t complicate the manufacturing process.”

When heat comes from above the surface of the material, it is conducted and moved along the nanosheets dispersing it. The nanosheets also act as a heat shield.

“At this point, it takes a lot of time to etch out the aluminium, but there are groups working on upscaling the MXene production process,” said Prof Yeoh.

“We also need to look at the performance and characteristics of the material at higher temperatures up to 800°C,” he added.

At the macro level, early tests have found the material to be an effective fire retardant.

A large team of researchers from the UNSW and ANSTO contributed to the research including first authors, Anthony Chun Yin Yuen and Timothy Bo Yuan Chen and ANSTO instrument scientist, Dr Andrew Whitten.

The versatile material could also potentially be used in energy storage devices.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Study of structure morphology and layer thickness of Ti3C2 MXene with Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) by Anthony Chun Yin Yuen, Timothy Bo Yuan Chen, Bo Lin, Wei Yang, Imrana I.Kabir, Ivan Miguel De Cachinho Cordeiro, Andrew E.Whitten, Jitendra Mata, Bin Yu, Hong-Dian Lu. Guan Heng Yeoh. Composites Part C: Open Access Volume 5, July 2021, 100155 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomc.2021.100155

This paper is open access.

Canadian firefighter declares nanotechnologies a known danger

Capt. Peter McBride Ottawa (Canada) Fire Services declared that nanotechnology has been proven unsafe at a Fire Dept. Instructors Conference (FDIC)  in Indianapolis (US), which was held April 16-21, 2012. From the April 24, 2012 article by Ed Ballam for Firehouse.com,

Firefighters and responders have known for decades that smoke is harmful to their health, but the latest studies have shown that the microscopic materials that become airborne during fires are far more deadly than ever realized. That’s because of the proliferation of nanotechnology – particles that are one billionth of a meter in size – that are found in today’s consumer products.

Capt. Peter McBride Ottawa (Canada) Fire Services spoke of the dangers of nanotechnologies, which contain known cancer causing materials, at the Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) in Indianapolis. He is a safety officer in Ottawa, responsible for the health and safety of the firefighters in his department.

I’m not sure how McBride determined that these particles were cancer-causing or exactly which particles he’s discussing.  From the article,

He became acutely interested in nanotechnologies when a huge downtown sporting goods store burned and belched acrid black smoke for blocks. Carbon fiber sporting goods, including thousands of skis, burned and emitted microscopic particles that coated everything, particularly his white department-issued SUV. He noticed stubborn black deposits on the SUV that just wouldn’t come off.

Realizing smoke was an inherent hazard of firefighting, he set out to see exactly what that black goop was on his SUV and how to best protect his crews from its hazards.

And what he found is that when material with nanotechnology burns, it emits dangerous particulates.

In a sporting goods store fire, I’d expect carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles in the particulate matter as these are commonly used in sporting goods. If there were other nanoparticles created as a consequence of the fire, I’d like to know which ones.

On a more general note, we have been ingesting more nanoparticles than we know. For example, burning diesel gas which we have been inhaling for decades also emits dangerous particulates at the nanoscale as we recently found out (my Oct. 7, 2012 posting on diesel gas honey bees [scroll down 1/2 way]).

Getting back to firefighters and nanotechnology, my concern is that McBride is making a claim without supporting data as he does here in the article,

“I am not against nanotechnologies,” McBride said. “I am against us not doing anything to protect ourselves from the known dangers.” [emphasis mine]

Who knows about these dangers? I haven’t seen a single claim from a researcher about the ‘known dangers’ of nano: particles/materials/technologies. In fact, it’s the uncertainty that’s disturbing.

I’m not the only with issues about this piece, commenters have quickly noted the problems, from the article webpage (I fixed some minor typos),

  • Bmayo

I’m sorry but Captain Mc Bride is very mistaken In the world of engineering and science there is a huge difference between. .Nano and micro, micro is thousands of time larger than nano-particles. also the idea of keeping and using a the SCBA until the fire is totally out is nothing new. The fire service has been teaching this for over 30 years.

Antimatter

yeah, it’s just the specific mention of carcinogenicity, mentioned twice, that i want evidence for. that’s not a word you toss around casually in this industry.

Adam Sawyer

There are some legitimate health risks with certain types of combustible nanoparticles/nanofibers, but just because a product has “nanotechnology” in it does not necessarily mean it’s dangerous.  The challenge will be for fire safety researchers and toxicologists to collaborate and figure out what’s getting into the air and at what concentration.  Study it the same way plastics were studied decades ago and we’ll figure out which materials cause problems and which don’t.

Chris

Yep,,,,,The joys of Firefighting …

Rseitzsr13

Very Very good article

Antimatter

I’m a safety trainer, and any small particulates can be hazardous, but I’d like information on the “known cancer causing materials.” I’ve never seen anything alleging that before, and if you have references, please list them.

No one could possibly fault McBride for his concerns about safety and it’s certainly true new nanotechnology-enabled products could pose special hazards. If McBride has data that supports his contention, I, like Antimatter, would like to see the references. I’d also appreciate a little more specificity with the terminology.