Comparison of flame spread of textiles and burn injury prediction with a manikin

Abstract

AbstractThe flame propagation rate of 94 different natural and synthetic fabrics and commercially available garments was assessed using the EN 1103 bench scale test apparatus. To further evaluate the potential burn hazard, the fabrics were then formed into upper garments, put on a full‐scale manikin equipped with 122 heat flux sensors and ignited with a small flame. By using a burn prediction model, the time to feel pain on the human skin as well as the time to suffer second degree burns could be calculated. The bench scale and full‐scale test data measurements show that the flame propagation rate is inversely proportional to the fabric weight for cellulose materials. The fabrics with the highest flame propagation rates were also the garments with the shortest times to pain and to second degree burns on the manikin. However, some blends of natural and synthetic fibres gave short pain and burn times on the manikin, even when the measured flame propagation rate using EN 1103 was low. Therefore, the flame propagation rate is a good means to predict the potential hazard of fabrics made of natural fibres; for synthetics and blends of natural and synthetic fibres, the heat transfer to the skin has to be considered as well. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.