Fire Behavior of Thermally Thin Materials in Cone Calorimeter.

Marouane El Gazi,Rodolphe Sonnier,Marcos Batistella,Loïc Dumazert,Raymond Hajj,Stéphane Giraud,Roland El Hage,Shantanu Basak

doi:10.3390/polym13081297

Abstract

In this study, a representative set of thermally thin materials including various lignocellulosic and synthetic fabrics, dense wood, and polypropylene sheets were tested using a cone calorimeter at different heat fluxes. Time-to-ignition, critical heat flux, and peak of heat release rate (pHRR) were the main parameters considered. It appears that the flammability is firstly monitored by the sample weight. Especially, while the burning rate of thermally-thin materials does never reach a steady state in cone calorimeter, their pHRR appears to be mainly driven by the fire load (i.e., the product of sample weight and effective heat of combustion) with no or negligible influence of textile structure. A simple phenomenological model was proposed to calculate the pHRR taking into account only three parameters, namely heat flux, sample weight, and effective heat of combustion. The model allows predicting easily the peak of heat release rate, which is often considered as the main single property informing about the fire hazard. It also allows drawing some conclusions about the flame retardant strategies to reduce the pHRR..

Highlights

Thin materials are defined as materials for which there is no significant heat gradient throughout their thickness
It should be noted that TTI and peak of heat release rate (pHRR) are among the most meaningful param eters to study the flammability and to establish some correlations between full-scal release (THR) maytests
It should be noted that TTI and pHRR are among the most meaningful parameters

Summary

Introduction

Thin materials are defined as materials for which there is no significant heat gradient throughout their thickness. The whole volume is heated at the same temperature at all times. The heat gradient is significant in thermally thick materials. The flammability of thermally thin materials, such as textiles, is of great concern. They are present in buildings such as in curtains and upholstered furniture and can greatly contribute to residential fires [1,2]. Many studies have been carried out in the past to better understand the flammability of thermally thin materials and to provide efficient flame retardant solutions [5]

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