- Author
-
Brown, J. E.
|
Comeford, J. J.
- Title
- Technique for the Measurement of Flash Fire Potential of Polymeric Materials. Progress Report. February 1-August 31, 1974.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Transportation, Atlantic City, NJ
- Report
-
NBSIR 75-757
December 1975
32 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Contract
- FA 67NF-AP-21
- Keywords
-
aircraft fires
|
fire hazards
|
flash fires
|
pyrolysis
- Abstract
- This report summarizes work for the period February-August 1974 on a continuing program to characterize the chemical and physical parameters of importance in a flash fire and to develop laboratory scale methods for measuring the flash fire potential of materials. Significant modifications have been made to a flash-fire cell developed earlier to measure the flash fire potential of materials by characterizing the condition required to produce an ignitable pyrolyzate-air mixture by thermally degrading a polymer. The furnace temperature, cell geometry and orientation, and sample size are specified. These modifications have resulted in an improved technique, especially in terms of reproducibility, for evaluation of flash fire potential of materials. Experiments have been conducted on rates of combustible gas formation from flexible polyurethanes to assist in the optimization of the flash-fire cell operating conditions. In the rate study, two successive major stages of degradation were found for polyurethane as the temperature approached 500 deg. at a rate of about 60 deg.C/min. It was also found that the products of the second stage appear to be responsible for flash fires in the flash-fire cell. A minimum polyurethane weight to enclosure volume ratio greater than 0.2 g/l and a sample pyrolysis temperature greater than 380 deg.C were required to produce a flash fire in this apparatus.