- Author
-
Davis, S.
|
Lawson, J. R.
|
Parker, W. J.
- Title
- Examination of the Variability of the ASTM E 648 Standard With Respect to Carpets.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Carpet and Rug Institute, Dalton, GA
American Textile Manufacturers Institute, Washington, DC
- Report
-
NISTIR 89-4191,
October 1989,
45 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
-
carpets
|
ASTM E648
|
flammability
|
floor coverings
|
flooring radiant panel test
- Identifiers
- critical radiant flux; National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program; parametric study; proficiency rounds
- Abstract
- The objectives of this research program were to investigate the variability of the ASTM E 648 Standard with respect to carpets and to make recommendations for revising the standard to improve the repeatability and reproducibility of the measured results. Several ignition sources and procedural variations were studies to assure that flame propagation away from the point of ignition would occur if the critical radiant flux of the carpet was less than the maximum flux from the panel. This resulted in the replacement of the propane torch point source pilot burner by a propane line burner. A coefficient of variation study was carried out to select one carpet for a parametric study of the test variables. As a result of the parametric study and a subsequent "proficiency round", recommendations were made to ASTM Committee E05 on Fire Standards for revision of ASTM E 648. The most significant changes were the use of the line burner for ignition and a tighter control of the air flow through the chamber.