Evaluation of kinetic parameters appropriate for modeling urethane foam insulation performance

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Computer codes which model the pyrolysis of thermal insulators for in-depth temperature response are particularly sensitive to the kinetic parameters used in the code. The parameter values, which are evaluated from thermogravimetric analysis (TG), are, in turn, sensitive to the heating and gas flow rates in the TG sample environment as well as the composition of the gas. In this study, the effects of these experimental variables on computer code predictions and their correlations with experimental data are demonstrated. The insulators are urethane foams and were subjected to simulated and actual instantaneous fire test conditions. The Charring Material Ablation computer code was used to model insulator performance.