ABSTRACT
A premixed flame is a propagating combustion wave in an explosive medium in which the reactants are mixed at the molecular level. Examples are the flame of a laboratory Bunsen burner and the flame in a jet engine afterburner. Some explosives are premixed solids, formed and mixed as liquids and then solidified. Other situations, such as the mixing of solid ingredients macroscopically for making solid propellants, is not, however, considered a premixed situation because mixing at the molecular level is not attained. Light gases have the highest flame speeds; for this reason the hydrogen-oxygen system has one of the highest flame speeds known, but the speeds of hydrocarbon-oxygen systems are generally quite low. The temperature effect is strongly shown in comparison of fuel-oxygen flame speeds to those of a fuel-air speed, where the nitrogen in the air suppresses the flame temperature as compared with that in the fuel-oxygen case.
