The Kigali amendment came into force for China on September 15, 2021. In 2024, China began to freeze 18 kinds of HFC gases including HFC227ea. FK5112 fire extinguishing agent has entered a critical period as a substitute for HFC227ea. FK5112 fire extinguishing agent has not been recognized in China for more than 20 years. In addition to lack of production and supply, high price and low fire extinguishing efficiency, the most important reason is that FK5112 has a certain corrosion risk.

DuPont believes that when Novec1230 is mixed with water, hydrolysis reaction will occur to produce heptafluoropropane and pentafluoropropionic acid, and pentafluoropropionic acid is highly acidic and corrosive.

3M tested the chemical properties of FK5112 in the evaluation of Novec1230 fire extinguishing agent products. 100ppmd FK5112 water blend liquid was hydrolyzed rapidly at room temperature with pH of 1-9, and the half-life was less than 2.5 min. heptafluoropropane and pentafluoropropionic acid were detected.

Guo Chunliang et al. (fire science and technology, 2020, 39 (11): 1545-1547) studied the corrosivity of 8 materials through immersion test. The experimental results show that at room temperature, 304L stainless steel has slight corrosion, brass has slight corrosion, and Q245R and red copper have serious corrosion.

Liang xiamin (Nanjing University of technology, 2019) tested the corrosion amount of four materials after 60 days of corrosion in FK5112 solution with different moisture content under normal temperature and pressure. The test found that the corrosion amount increased with the increase of moisture content, and galvanized iron and red copper suffered the most serious corrosion.

The manufacturer of fire suppression system must be aware of the correct use of FK5112 fire extinguishing agent.