Fundamental flame spread and toxicity evaluation of fire retarded polymers

A simple method is developed for characterizing the fire performance and toxicity of polymers using basically three but up to five parameters if necessary. The first parameter is related to fire spread and growth (corresponding to UL-94 and the FIGRA of SBI), the second parameter is the smoke yield (corresponding to the SMOGRA of SBI), the third parameter is the inefficiency of combustion (related to unburned hydrocarbon compounds and their toxicity as verified by tube furnace measurements), the fourth parameter is the mass of residue remaining and the fifth parameter is a heat release parameter for thermally thin conditions (the maximum mass loss rate in TGA multiplied by the effective heat of combustion deduced from the Cone Calorimeter tests). The developed methodology was used to compare brominated and halogen free fire retardants in formulations of PBT, PA66, PPE/HIPS and PC/ABS. It is confirmed that the studied environmentally friendly alternatives to brominated fire retardants offer comparable fire performance with lower toxicity.

[1]  Michael A. Delichatsios.  Application of upward flame spread for the prediction of SBI and ISO room corner (and parallel wall) experiments and classification , 2007 .

[2]  Michael A. Delichatsios,et al.  Further Validation of a Numerical Model for Prediction of Pyrolysis of Polymer Nanocomposites in the Cone Calorimeter , 2010 .

[3]  M. Delichatsios,et al.  Micro- to Mesoscale Testing and Modeling for Nanocomposite polymers in Fires , 2009 .

[4]  Djebar Baroudi,et al.  Analysis of upward flame spread , 1992 .

[5]  M. Delichatsios,et al.  An Upward Fire Spread And Growth Simulation , 1991 .

[6]  J. G. Quintiere,et al.  A Framework For Utilizing Fire Property Tests , 1991 .

[7]  M. Delichatsios,et al.  Experimental and numerical study of burning behaviors of flaxboard with intumescent coating and nanoparticles in the cone calorimeter and single burning item tests , 2012 .

[8]  John L. de Ris,et al.  A sample holder for determining material properties , 2000 .

[9]  Craig Beyler,et al.  A Computer Model Of Upward Flame Spread On Vertical Surfaces , 1997 .

[10]  Archibald Tewarson,et al.  Smoke Emissions In Fires , 2008 .

[11]  Zhenghua Yan,et al.  CFD and experimental studies of room fire growth on wall lining materials , 1996 .

[12]  M. A. Delichatsios.  Critical conditions for upward flame spread and comparison with empirical flammability indices , 1995 .

[13]  Serge Bourbigot,et al.  Experimental and numerical study of the effects of nanoparticles on pyrolysis of a polyamide 6 (PA6) nanocomposite in the cone calorimeter , 2009 .

[14]  Jianping Zhang,et al.  Assessment of Fire Dynamics Simulator for Heat Flux and Flame Heights Predictions from Fires in SBI Tests , 2010 .

[15]  Philip Thomas,et al.  On upward flame spread on thick fuels , 1990 .

[16]  Forman A. Williams,et al.  Upward Turbulent Flame Spread , 1986 .

[17]  Björn Sundström,et al.  The Development of a European Fire Classification System for Building Products - Test Methods and Mathematical Modelling , 2007 .

[18]  Yuji Hasemi.  THERMAL MODELING OF UPWARD WALL FLAME SPREAD. , 1986 .

[19]  Björn Karlsson.  Modeling Fire Growth on Combustible Lining Materials in Enclosures , 1992 .