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Author
Tewarson, A. | Pion, R. F.
Title
Laboratory-Scale Test Method for the Measurement of Flammability Parameters. Final Technical Report.
Coporate
Factory Mutual Research Corp., Norwood, MA
Sponsor
National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
PRC-RP-75-1-33A-Renewal; FMRC Serial 22524, October 1977, 161 p.
Keywords
parameters | test methods | measurement | flammability | ignition | heat flux | pyrolysis | burning rate | heat release rate | transmission | flame extinguishment | thermal inertia
Abstract
A technique to measure the flammability parameters of polymeric materials (and liquids) is described. Results and discussions are presented for ignition, mass pyrolysis/burning rate, mass generation rates of products, heat release rate, optical transmission through the products, and thermal inertia of the samples. All parameters are measured in a laboratory-scale flammability apparatus. The samples used are about 10 cm in diameter, about 2- to 5-cm thick and are exposed to variable magnitudes of externally applied heat flux and mass fraction of oxygen in the environment, with all other experimental conditions maintained constant. The technique appears to show promise for quantifying the flammability parameters of various generic type polymers with variations in polymer additives such as fire retardants, copolymers and others.