Studies on the Effect of Altitude on the Flammable Liquids' Flash Point

Presented in this paper is part of an experimental series conducted at different altitudes to investigate the influence of altitude on the flammable liquids flash point. The BS-1 closed bomb apparatus is used to measure the flash points of two flammable liquids (dimethylacetylamide (DMA) and RP-5 Jet A) in a hypobaric chamber under the altitude change from 4860 km to the sea level. The experimental results show that the flash points of DMA and Jet A decrease linearly with the increase in altitude in the low altitude region below the corresponding critical altitudes but non-linearly above. The critical altitudes for DMA and RP-5 Jet A are found to be 3 km and 3.83 km respectively. When the altitude reaches or surpasses the critical altitude, the flash point decreases rapidly. In particular, the flash point of the DMA exhibits a peculiar sudden transition above the critical altitude.