Combustion gas toxicity of textiles (author's transl)

Abstract

Textiles are used so widely as interior materials of many buildings, houses, and transportation facilities, that the combustion gas has a chance of intoxication of a fire accident. Therefore this investigation was undertaken to clarify the toxicity of the gas and to obtain an index for safety standards in such cases. The combustion gases of cotton, polypropylene, acrylic, flame retardant (F.R.) cotton and F.R. acrylic fabrics were analyzed by a gas chromatograph and a GC-Mass spectorograph, and also tested with experimental animals to determine the lethal factors including blood gas analyzing technique. The gas exposuring test based on gas analysis data showed that the toxicity of these combustion products increased in the following orders: cotton, polypropylene, F.R. cotton, F.R. acrylic and acrylic. Comparative indices of the toxicity showed that acrylic increased 7.26-fold as compared with that of cotton. It was recognized that the lethal factors in the mice was due to carbon monoxide and/or hydrogen cyanide during the exposure one hour, and that sequelae due to acrolein during the seven day observation period after the exposure. Flame retardant treatment increased twice the toxicity of cotton. On the contrary, that of acrylic was reduced by 0.8 time compared with the original fabric, so that the treatment could be recommended only in case of acrylic from the safety standpoint. From the above results, it can be stressed that vigorous smoke exhaust procedure should be executed in the case of fire accidents for saving human lives.