- Author
- Babrauskas, V. | Twilley, W. H. | Janssens, M. L. | Yusa, S.
- Title
- Cone Calorimeter for Controlled-Atmosphere Studies.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Journal
- Fire and Materials, Vol. 16, No. 1, 37-43, January/March 1992
- Keywords
- cone calorimeters | controlled atmospheres | test methods | combustion chambers
- Abstract
- Many fires occur in ambient atmospheric conditions. To investigate certain types of firew, however, it is necessary to consider combustion where the oxidizer is not 21% oxygen/79% nitrogen. The Cone Calorimeter (ASTM E 1354, ISO DIS 5660) has recently become the tool of choice for studying the fire properties of products and materials. Its standard use involves burning specimens with room air being drawn in for combustion. To facilitate studying fires involving different atmospheres, a special version of the Cone Calorimeter was designed. This unit allows controlled combustion atmospheres to be created by the use of bottled or piped gases. To make such operation feasible, a large number of design details of the standard calorimeter had to be modified. This paper describes the background for these changes and provides an explanaiton of how the controlled-atmospheres unit is operated.