Study on Titanium Fire Suppression Technology in Shaped Charge Cutting of Titanium Alloys

During aero-engine casing containment tests, the explosive separation method used to achieve the constant-speed fly-off of titanium alloy blades often produces a bright titanium fire phenomenon. This titanium fire obstructs high-speed camera recording of the blade fly-off process. To address this issue, this study analyzed the mechanism of titanium fire generation and proposed a barrier layer method to suppress titanium fire during shaped energy cutting of titanium alloys. Numerical simulations using the Euler algorithm in AUTODYN were conducted to evaluate the blocking effect of the barrier layer and its feasibility for titanium fire suppression. Experimental investigations were then performed to quantitatively assess the brightness reduction of titanium fire, comparing the effectiveness of four barrier materials. The results indicate that 0.1mm thick aluminum and titanium tin foil achieve titanium fire suppression rates of 29.5% and 24%, respectively, demonstrating moderate effectiveness. A 0.1 mm thick copper sheet shows poor performance with a suppression rate of only 4.3%, while a 0.1 mm thick aluminum silicate coating exhibits the best performance, achieving a suppression rate of 70.9%. This study has summarized the mechanism of titanium fire suppression suing barrier layers during shaped energy cutting of titanium alloy plates and validated the feasibility of the barrier layer method. The findings can provide a practical approach for titanium fire elimination in explosion separation processes involving shaped energy cutting of titanium alloys.