- Author
- Babrauskas, V. | Damant, G. | Nubakhsh, S.
- Title
- Heat Release Rate Testing of Mattresses: Full-Scale Measurements and Bench-Scale Predictions.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, North Highlands, CA
- Book or Conf
- Interscience Communications Limited. Heat Release and Fire Hazard. 1st U. S. Symposium. Abstracts. December 1991, San Diego, CA, 61-63 p., 1991
- Keywords
- heat release | fire hazard | mattresses | heat release rate | upholstered furniture | test methods | flammability | cone calorimeters
- Abstract
- Upholstered furniture and mattress fires comprise the largest single factor in the US fire fatality statistics. Heat release rate (HRR) has been identified as the single most important variable characterizing the hazard from furnishings fires. Over the past few years methods became available for large-scale HRR testing of upholstered furniture. Somewhat different standard test methods on this subject have been published by NORDTEST, Underwriters Laboratories and, most recently, the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation. For many applications, however, bench-scale testing is more appropriate than full-scale testing. Thus, efforts have been undertaken to predict the full-scale HRR performance of upholstered furniture from bench-scale data. The first such predictive method, for residential upholstered furniture, was developed at NIST in 1982. In recent years concern has been more focused on HRR performance of institutional and contract furniture. In a joint program between NIST and the state of California a predictive method for such furniture was developed in 1990. Many aspects of mattress construction and testing are similar to corresponding ones for upholstered seating. Yet there are enough differences to require separate test protocols and predictive methods to be developed. Original work on mattress flammability at both NIST and BHF predated the availability of modern HRR measuring instrumentation. During 1990-91 the opportunity arose to work on developing such procedures and data for mattresses. The California BHF test room was furnished with HRR-measuring instrumentation, while the Cone Calorimeter (ASTM E1354) was available for use for bench-scale testing at NIST. Thus, the two organizations co-operated on jointly establishing such predictive capabilities. At BHF the studies were funded by the International Sleep Products Association. At NIST work was conducted under funding from the Law Enforcement Standards Laboratory.