- Author
-
Ohlemiller, T. J.
- Title
- Examination of the NASA Flammability Test. BFRL Video Seminar.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
-
Video
February 26, 1991
- Keywords
-
flammability tests
- Abstract
- NASA employs a simple, standardized flammability test for all potential spacecraft interior materials. It measures the extent of upward flamespread on the material after expolsure to a small chemical ignitor in an atmosphere containing the highest oxygen level the material will see in use. A series of materials was exposed to this test and to the standard set of NIST flammability tests (ignitability, rate of heat release and lateral flame spread behavior in the Cone Calorimeter and LIFT devices.) The comparative behavior of the materials in the two types of tsts and the ability of the NIST test results to predict the NASA test results have been examined. The NASA test appears to be substantially less informative about the potential flammability of a material.