Explosive and thermic compositions or charges – Containing inorganic oxygen-halogen salt – Alkali metal oxygen-halogen salt
Patent
1995-10-12
1999-03-16
Miller, Edward A.
Explosive and thermic compositions or charges
Containing inorganic oxygen-halogen salt
Alkali metal oxygen-halogen salt
149 36, 149 61, 149 77, C06B 2908
Patent
active
058833307
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a gas generating composition, and more particularly to an azide-free gas generating composition capable of burning for providing a gas to inflate an air bag for automotive use. The invention also concerns with a process for molding the gas generating composition and a method of storing and transporting the molded composition.
BACKGROUND ART
Air bag systems have been developed for automotive use. The air bag systems can quickly inflate an air bag with a gas generated from a gas generating composition to prevent the riders from being injured or killed by crashing, through inertia, against a steering wheel, a front windshield or other solid or hazardous parts in the automobile or the like in the event of collision of the automobile or the like running at a high speed. Gas generating compositions suitable for use with automotive air bag systems are to meet rigorous requirements. First, the air bag is required to be inflated in a very short time, usually within 30 to 50 milliseconds. Further, an optimum atmosphere in the bag corresponds in the composition to the air in the automobile or the like.
Currently available gas generating compositions containing an alkali metal salt or alkaline earth metal salt of hydrazoic acid, particularly sodium azide, as a gas generating base are able to meet the foregoing requirements and are good. However, these gas generating compositions have the drawback that the sodium azide as the main component and alkali components produced as by-products in the generation of a gas are toxic. Fears are entertained as to the environmental pollution entailed in the mass disposal of air bag system-loaded automobiles.
To overcome the foregoing problem, azide-free gas generating compositions have been developed as a substitute for sodium azide-based gas generating compositions. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.208878/1991 discloses a composition comprising tetrazole, triazole or a metal salt thereof as the main component, an oxygen-containing oxidizing agent such as ammonium perchlorate, sodium nitrate, etc., and a metallic oxide such as V.sub.2 O.sub.5, CuO, Fe.sub.2 O.sub.5, etc. Generally the air bag system is adapted to remove the undesired substances from the generated gas by filtration before the discharge of the gas into the bag. The role of the metallic oxide in the disclosed composition is to form a solid product of combustion which can be easily filtered. On the other hand, Japanese Examined Patent Publications Nos.6156/1989 and 6157/1989 disclose gas generating compositions comprising a metal salt of a hydrogen-free bitetrazole compound as the main component. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.213687/1993 discloses a gas generating composition comprising a transition metal complex of aminoarazole as the main component. The azide-free compounds taught in the foregoing series of prior art publications have the feature that carbon monoxide is produced in a low concentration because the compound has a small number of carbon atoms per molecule. But the disclosed compositions are all unsatisfactory in the time required for inflating the bag.
The inventor of the present invention previously found that an azide-free gas generating composition comprising, as active components, a specific nitrogen-containing organic compound such as azodicarbonamide and a specific oxygen-containing inorganic oxidizing agent such as potassium perchlorate is unlikely to cause environmental pollution and fully satisfactory in the bag-inflating time and is advantageous also in terms of costs. Then, the inventor filed patent applications on these findings (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos.32689/1994, 32690/1994 and 227884/1994). Such gas generating compositions produce remarkable results which are as follows.
(a) These compositions generate a large amount of a gas per unit mass, thereby contributing to the miniaturization of automotive air bag inflators and to the reduction of their weight. Forty grams of the gas
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Daicel Chemical Industries Ltd.
Miller Edward A.
Nippon Koki Co. Ltd.
Otsuka Kagaku Kabushiki Kaisha
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