- Author
- Villa, K. M. | Babrauskas, V.
- Title
- Cone Calorimeter Rate of Heat Release Measurements for Upholstered Composites of Polyurethane Foam.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NISTIR 4652, August 1991, 39 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- composite materials | cone calorimeters | heat release rate | melamine | nylon (trademark) | polyolefins | polyurethane foams | polyvinyl chloride | upholstered furniture
- Abstract
- Certain regulatory authorities have recently banned or restricted the use of furniture upholstered with a combination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) covering and a melamine-treated polyurethane foam padding. Thus, it was endeavored to determine if quantitative measurements would reveal; any special hazards associated with this particular combination. The work represents the testing of nine different upholstered composites, made of fabric coverings and polyurethane foam, tested at three different irradiance levels in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cone Calorimeter. Additional combinations using a polyester batting interbarrier were also used. The composite bench-scale specimens were tested at 25 kW/sq.m, 35 kW/sq.m and 50 kW/sq.m irradiance levels. For most variables describing fire hazard, the performance of the combination of melamine-treated polyurethane foam and PVC fabric covering was not found to behave in an unusual manner. Only by considering the time period of 15 seconds after ignition was this combination numericaly worse than all other combinations tested.