Polyether silicone oil (polyether modified silicone oil), as an important branch of silicone surfactants, with its unique molecular structure (combination of siloxane backbone and polyether branched chain), has shown multi-dimensional technical advantages in the field of fire extinguishing agents, especially in environmentally friendly foam fire extinguishing agents and ultrafine dry powder fire extinguishing agents. It has become a core functional component.


1. Environmentally friendly foam fire extinguishing agent: synergistic effect of surface activity and foam stabilization
In the high-efficiency and environmentally friendly silicon-based foam fire extinguishing agent composed of multi-silicon surfactants, polyether-modified silicone oil and amino-modified silicone oil form a "golden combination".Through its strong hydrophilic polyether chain, polyether-modified silicone oil quickly reduces the surface tension of the solution to below 20mN/m, and promotes foam generation efficiency by more than 30%.；


Amino-modified silicone oil enhances the strength of the foam film through positive charge adsorption. The density of the molecular film formed after the combination of the two is 30% higher than that of a single silicon surfactant, which makes the foaming multiple of the fire extinguishing agent reach 10-12 times, and the 25% solution analysis time is extended to 15 minutes, which significantly improves the foam durability.


The technology has been industrialized and applied. For example, the silicon-based foam fire extinguishing agent produced by a certain enterprise has passed the HJ2518-2012 environmental protection certification, with a biodegradable rate of 92%, acute oral toxicity LD50>5000mg/kg, and the Class B fire extinguishing time is less than 30 seconds, the anti-reburning time is more than 60 minutes, and the residue decomposes naturally within 3 days, which reduces the risk of soil pollution by 80% compared with traditional fluoroprotein foam fire extinguishing agents.


2. Ultrafine dry powder fire extinguishing agent: powder modification and rheological control
In the preparation of ultrafine dry powder fire extinguishing agent, polyether-modified silicone oil is used as the key surface treatment agent. It acts synergistically with hydrogen-containing silicone oil through the silicon-hydrogen addition reaction to form a three-dimensional mesh hydrophobic film to wrap inorganic fire extinguishing particles (such as magnesium hydroxide and aluminum hydroxide).Experimental data show that adding 7-9Kg/ton of polyether modified silicone oil can control the average particle size of the dry powder below 5µm, 90% of the particle size is ≤7.5µm, the loose density is stable at 0.41-0.45g/cm3, and the angle of repose is ≤37.12°, which significantly improves the fluidity and anti-caking properties of the powder.


This technology breaks through the bottleneck of traditional dry powder fire extinguishing agents that are easy to absorb moisture and agglomeration. For example, a patented formula uses a high temperature stirring process of 100-120℃ to form a synergistic system between polyether modified silicone oil and hydrophobic silica. The moisture content of the dry powder is ≤0.25%, the moisture absorption rate is ≤0.5%, and it is stored in an 85% humidity environment for 12 months without compaction, and the fire extinguishing efficiency is increased by 20%, realizing the rapid coverage of ABC fires by fully submerged fire extinguishing methods.


3. Technology evolution and industry trends
The current application of polyether silicone oil in the field of fire extinguishing agents presents two major directions: one is functional compounding, such as the development of fluorosilicate co-modified products to improve temperature resistance (-20℃ to 150℃ applicable globally); the other is green, biodegradable polyether silicone oil has a natural decomposition rate of >95% in 28 days, which meets the requirements of the EU REACH regulation.With the growth of demand for intelligent fire fighting, responsive polyether silicone oils (such as temperature/pH sensitive types) are being developed, and it is expected that the performance of fire extinguishing agents will be dynamically regulated in the future.