- Author
- Babrauskas, V. | Urbas, J. | Richardson, L.
- Title
- Related Quantities. Part E. Non-Combustibility.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia Forintek Canada Corp., Ottawa, Ontario
- Report
- Chapter 8
- Book or Conf
- Heat Release in Fires, Elsevier Applied Science, NY, Babrauskas, V.; Grayson, S. J., Editors, 257-264 p., 1992
- Keywords
- heat release rate | fire protection engineering | test methods | noncombustion | cone calorimeters | building codes | specifications
- Identifiers
- Forintek results
- Abstract
- In a true fire-engineering sense the word 'non-combustibility' would be just as deprecated as the term 'fireproof' is today. Nonetheless, the term is widely used in building codes. The provisions in various countries and jurisdications vary widely; the majority, however, are based on a 'non-combustibility' test. The most common non-combustibility test is ISO 1182. A method using rather similar principles, but a different furnace, is the ASTM E 136 test. Some years ago, ASTM did decide that 'non-combustibility' was a misleading name, and so changed the name of E 136 from its original 'Standard Test Method for Non-Combustibility of Elementary Materials' to its present name, Standard Test Method for Behavior of Materials in a Vertical Tube Furnace at 750 C. The concept, however, was not altered. Both the ISO and the ASTM methods equip a small specimen with several thermocouples, then insert it into a hot furnace. A differential temperature rise of more than the allowed amount is the primary failure criteria; other criteria include observations of flaming and measurement of mass loss.