- Author
-
Arnold, G. B.
|
Hollies, N. R. S.
- Title
- Ignition Test for Assessing the Flammability of Toys. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Gillette Research Inst., Rockville, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Washington, DC
- Report
-
Final Report,
December 15, 1972,
74 p.
- Contract
- FDA-72-129
- Keywords
-
flammability
|
ignition testing
|
fire tests
|
test methods
|
air flow
|
plastics
|
cardboard
|
paper
|
wood
- Identifiers
- toys
- Abstract
- An ease of ignition test is proposed for assessing the flammability hazard of childrens' toys. It consists of placing the most flammable appearing portion of a toy in the tip of a gas flame and noting the time taken for ignition. Application of this test to toys containing (1) plastic or foam structures, (2) plastic and garment combinations, (3) cardboard or coated paper, (4) wooden structures, and (5) composite materials has shown that toys which ignite in five seconds or less appear to represent an unreasonable hazard in terms of flammability. Short ignition time, however, does not necessarily characterize all toys which are hazardous because some plastic toys exhibit melt drip burning which can lead to secondary fires and in some of these cases a very intense fire is observed. Toys have also been examined which ignite readily but self extinguish when the flame source is removed and the self extinguishing features of such toys seem to be important to consider in judging their overall safety for childrens' use. It appears therefore that a full flammability hazard test for toys should comprise a reasonable balance of the hazard components of ignition time, melt drip, secondary fires, rate of flame spread, and self extinguishing features.