- Author
-
Orphanides, G. G.
- Title
- Foreign Technology Concerning Fire Safety Aspects of Polymeric Materials.
- Coporate
- Foreign Science and Technology Center, Charlottesville, VA
- Report
-
Task No. 4201113SH
October 1973
48 p.
- Keywords
-
fire safety
|
fire tests
|
test methods
|
smoke
|
toxic gases
- Identifiers
- dynamics of fire
- Abstract
- The combustion of organic polymeric materials presents serious fire, smoke, and toxic vapor hazards. The growing use of these materials in all segments of our society has resulted in a heightened concern for the safety of human life and property. Scientific and technological solutions to the problem rest on improving present fire, smoke, and toxic vapor testing methods. This coupled with a fuller understanding of the dynamics of burning will lead to the development of organic materials that, as a result of composition and design, pose fewer and less severe combustion hazards. At this time, the technically advanced nations do not possess the necessary technology to accomplish this end. Nevertheless, these same countries realize the situation, and are striving to remedy it. This paper presents the salient features of the foreign technology concerned with fire safety aspects of polymeric materials. It describes the current state of foreign test methods, of foreign contributions to the understanding of fire dynamics, and of foreign organic fire resistant polymers. Particular attention is paid to developments in the United Kingdom, France, West Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union.