- Author
- Mehta, A. K. | Wong, F. | Padia, A.
- Title
- Measurement of Flammability and Burn Potential of Fabrics. Progress Report 4.
- Coporate
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
- Sponsor
- National Science Foundation, Washington, DC
- Report
- Progress Report 4; Project DSR 72894; Project DSR 73884, January 17, 1972, 32 p.
- Contract
- NSF-GI-27188 NSF-GI-31881
- Keywords
- fabrics | flammability | burns (injuries) | skin burns (human) | flame propagation
- Identifiers
- modification of previous apparatus for burn injury; controlled-condition chamber; experimental burn-injury results; glass skin simulant
- Abstract
- During this quarter the burn injury apparatus was modified to provide uniform stretching of the fabric over the skin simulant and to provide uniform spacing between the fabric and simulant. An insulated air-conditioned room was built to provide experimental conditions of controlled air temperature and humidity. The tsts performed this quarter were conducted at 70 deg F and 65% Relative Humidity. A preliminary examination of the role of fabric-skin spacing and fabric orientaton in burn injury was performed using the rod-type skin simulant described previously. None of the fabrics tested propagate a flame at spacings of an 1/8 inch or less, and burn damage at different spacings exhibits a maximum at about 1/2 inch. The occurrence of the maximum is believed to result from the opposing effects of spacing upon air supply beneath the fabric and resistance to heat transfer to the simulant. In order to discourage possible underestimation of burn damage, the use of 1/2-inch spacing has been tentatively adopted as standard procedure in this work.