FireDOC Search

Author
Babrauskas, V. | Urbas, J. | Richardson, L.
Title
Related Quantities. Part E. Non-Combustibility.
Coporate
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Forintek Canada Corp., Ottawa, Ontario
Report
Chapter 8,
Book or Conf
Heat Release in Fires, Elsevier Applied Science, NY, Babrauskas, V.; Grayson, S. J., Editors, 257-264 p., 1992
Keywords
heat release rate | fire protection engineering | test methods | noncombustion | cone calorimeters | building codes | specifications
Identifiers
Forintek results
Abstract
In a true fire-engineering sense the word 'non-combustibility' would be just as deprecated as the term 'fireproof' is today. Nonetheless, the term is widely used in building codes. The provisions in various countries and jurisdications vary widely; the majority, however, are based on a 'non-combustibility' test. The most common non-combustibility test is ISO 1182. A method using rather similar principles, but a different furnace, is the ASTM E 136 test. Some years ago, ASTM did decide that 'non-combustibility' was a misleading name, and so changed the name of E 136 from its original 'Standard Test Method for Non-Combustibility of Elementary Materials' to its present name, Standard Test Method for Behavior of Materials in a Vertical Tube Furnace at 750 C. The concept, however, was not altered. Both the ISO and the ASTM methods equip a small specimen with several thermocouples, then insert it into a hot furnace. A differential temperature rise of more than the allowed amount is the primary failure criteria; other criteria include observations of flaming and measurement of mass loss.