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Author
Ohlemiller, T. J. | Rogers, F. E.
Title
Smoldering Combustion Studies of Rigid Cellular Plastics. Final Report.
Coporate
Princeton Univ., NJ
Sponsor
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
Report
PRC-RP-75-1-40; Report 1432
May 7, 1979
121 p.
Keywords
cellular plastics | smoldering combustion | foam (materials) | toxic gases | thermal conductivity | thermal degradation
Abstract
Smoldering Combustion presents a hazard as a copius generator of toxic gases and as a low temperature pathway to flaming combustion. Many rigid polymer foams have properties that can enhance smolder tendency (high surface area/unit volume, low thermal conductivity, formation of an oxidizable char). However, because these foams do not become highly permeable to air flow even after thermal degradation, their susceptibility is to near surface smolder rather than the more familiar volumetric smolder (as in flexible polyurethanes). We have addressed methods of quantifying this type of smolder susceptibility.