Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc. (SCE) provides impartial consulting services and guidance to the industry in process safety.

Laboratory Testing

Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc. maintains an extensive range of standard hazards tests and initiation test equipment for safety hazard analysis support. Any solid, liquid or gas can be tested for initiation sensitivity, speed of propagation and explosiveness. Field tests, such as explosives, blasting, burn rate and propagation tests, are conducted at our quarry site in western Illinois. SCE also conducts material tests in situ at customer plant facilities. Our comprehensive and innovative test program includes:

Explosibility/Detonability

Explosibility Screening Test - A/B Classification, Minimum Ignition Energy Test - Dust Cloud, Minimum Ignition Energy - Dust Layer, Minimum Ignition Temperature Test - Dust Cloud, Minimum Ignition Temperature Test - Dust Layer, Minimum Explosible Concentration Test, Limiting Oxygen Concentration Test, Explosion Severity Test (Maximum Explosion Pressure, Kst), Minimum Ignition Energy Test – Vapor, Limits of Flammability, Vapor Pressure, Limiting Oxygen Concentration Test, Flash Point Determination, Flash Point Determination - Setaflash Closed Cup Apparatus, Autoignition Temperature Determination, Autoignition Temperature at High Pressure, Explosion Severity / ( Pmax, dP/dt - Kg ), Open Burning Test – Liquids, Sustained Combustibility Test, Flammability Diagram

Thermal Sensitivity:

Thermal Stability (DSC, DTA, DMA, TGA, TMA, DEA, SDT), Arrhenius Kinetics (thermal runaway reaction), Spontaneous Heating Tendency, Thermal Conductivity, Vacuum Thermal Stability, Henkin, SADT, (up to 400 lb.), etc.

Electrostatic Sensitivity:

Liquid Conductivity Test, Measurement of Volume Resistivity and Charge Relaxation Time - Powders and Dusts, Measurement of Volume Resistivity and Charge Relaxation Rate - Sheets, Films, Fabrics, Foils, and Coatings, Electrostatic Chargeability Test, Electrostatic Discharge Testing, Measurement of Surface Resistivity and Charge Relaxation Time - Sheets, Films, Fabrics, Foils, and Coatings, Propagating Brush Discharge Testing and Breakdown Voltage Measurement - Sheets, Films, Fabrics, Foils, and Coatings

Mechanical Sensitivity:

Bureau of Mines Drop Weight Impact, Liquid and Slurry Adiabatic Compression, Strip Friction Sensitivity, High Velocity Impingement, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis, etc.

Large-scale tests (i.e., burn and propagation, SADT, underwater blasting sensitivity, internal ignition, slow cook-off, etc.) are conducted at our open-air testing facility in Forreston, Illinois. Up to 20 lbs of explosives can be pressed with a 75-ton hydraulic press or with other air presses. Explosive charges can also be melted and poured for casting. In our quarry, we handle and test a wide range of explosives such as TNT, Comp B, A3, PBX 9502, AFX 902, PBXN-5, HBX-3, H6 and Explosive D for processing and loading into charges.

SCE has a valid license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and an explosive license from the State of Illinois. SCE is monitored on a quarterly basis by an officer of the U.S. Federal Safety Board to assure SCE complies with the standards of explosives maintenance. SCE does not manufacture explosives and has not performed any type of work in the explosives industry other than testing for determination of hazard class or performance and in-process potential.

Safety Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Chilworth | A DEKRA Company