Fire and explosion hazards

Many of the rubber compounding additives are fire sensitive, particularly:

1. Sulphurs and organic peroxides (used as curing agents);
2. azodicarbonamide (used as a blowing agent in some open celled rubber/lattices).

Particular care is required in storage areas to make sure incompatible materials, such as carbon black and sulphur, are adequately segregated. There have been incidences of dust explosions in powder handling areas. Many rubber compounding additives such as azodicarbonamide, calcium and zinc stearates, are known to be highly explosive when in a finely divided state. Design dust extraction and collection systems for use with potentially explosive dusts. Good
housekeeping will minimise the risk of secondary dust explosions .