Combustion Toxicology Research Articles

Handbook of plastics flammability and combustion toxicology. Edited by H. Landrock, Noyes Data Corporation, 1983. Pp xii + 308, price $36.00. ISBN 0815509405

British Polymer JournalVolume 16, Issue 2 p. 109-109 Book Review Handbook of plastics flammability and combustion toxicology. Edited by H. Landrock, Noyes Data Corporation, 1983. Pp xii + 308, price $36.00. ISBN 0815509405 W. D. Woolley, W. D. WoolleySearch for more papers by this author W. D. Woolley, W. D. WoolleySearch for more papers by this author First published: June 1984 https://doi.org/10.1002/pi.4980160221AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume16, Issue2June 1984Pages 109-109 RelatedInformation

Basic aspects of combustion toxicology

Combustion toxicology of fires is one of the most difficult subjects currently facing researchers, manufacturers, fire brigades, architects and regulatory/control bodies, and is a subject where there is a great deal of misunderstanding. It is important because many of the fatalities in fire are now attributed to the effects of the atmosphere (rather than burns and other injuries) and attention has been focussed on the problems by a number of recent and very serious fires throughout the world. Combustion toxicology involves the whole spectrum of physiological interactions of fire gases and smoke, from sublethal effects of low concentrations to very high concentrations where unconsciousness and death may result within minutes. It is complex because smoke and gases may contain many hundreds of different chemical species even from the burning of a simple polymer. Because of the great complexity, the understanding of the problem needs to be advanced on several fronts. The paper will outline briefly the approaches being adopted internationally, including pathological studies, biological work, analytical observations and model/fullscale fire experiments to probe the mechanisms of incapacitation, injury and death. Some of these topics (pathological and biological) will be presented by later speakers. The paper will therefore concentrate on the information being gained from laboratory decomposition and fire experiments (particularly with analytical monitoring) to understand the nature of the fire atmosphere. As part of this, the paper will describe a series of fullscale fire experiments (involving both natural and synthetic polymers) with measurements of oxides of carbon, oxygen, smoke, and ‘organic’ products using GC-MS ‘finger-printing’ techniques. Where possible, the results will be presented in a form suitable for estimating the potential contamination of areas remote to the fire from volume flow data of smoke and gases. This work provides not only an insight into the chemical nature of the fire atmosphere but is an essential part of the understanding of the overall hazards presented by fires and can show the wider ways in which the problems of combustion products can be solved. This is important because there is a great deal of interest internationally in the development of simple tests for combustion toxicity (using biological procedures) and methods proposed in other countries will be mentioned briefly. The possible role of these tests will be discussed within a framework of recent research which is attempting to understand the relationship of the tests with practical fire conditions.

Fundamentals of Combustion Toxicology in Fire Hazard Assessment

Abstract This paper discusses fundamental principles of combustion toxicology and the application of those principles in formulating test protocols and research strategies aimed ultimately toward smoke toxicity hazard assessment and the influence of materials thereupon. It offers a review of principles basic to combustion toxicology to serve as introductory reading for fire technology professionals not generally familiar with the biological aspects of applied fire research and testing. While some methods of contemporary significance are referred to or discussed, this paper is not intended to be an exhaustive review or analysis of laboratory methods that have been applied in evaluating toxicological properties of smoke. This paper also addresses the basic issues of the assessment of toxic hazards to life and how laboratory methods may be applied in determining whether the choice of one material over another would significantly alter potential toxicological threats to life. Some approaches to laboratory assessments are given involving time-dependent bioassays of toxicological effects caused by allowing materials to perform as they would in a real fire. This paper is intended to open the way to the complex area of smoke toxicity hazard assessment in the laboratory in a relevant and practical manner.

Use of toxicity test results and confrontation of some toxicity test methods with fire scenarios

The enormous, world wide research activity in the field of combustion toxicology has given rise to an impressive amount of toxicity data. The first part of this paper discusses the problems which arise when such results are used to rank materials in an order of the relative toxicity of their combustion products or in attempting to relate them to toxicological hazard evaluation. In the second part, after introducing the notion of fire scenarios and describing two such possible situations, existing test methods are compared in relation to their relevance to the scenario parameters. It is shown that none of the evaluated methods completely fulfills the considered conditions. It is concluded by the authors that agreement on thoroughly described scenarios is necessary for further trials towards international harmonisation and development of test methods.

Chemical aspects of combustion toxicology of fires

AbstractThis report describes work currently being carried out at the Fire Research Station, Borehamwood to Study the role of the fire atmosphere in causing incapacitation, injury and death of building occupants in fires. The work includes a detailed study of polymer degradation mechanisms (particularly synthetic) and product formation under carefully controlled laboratory conditions and fires, together with pathological and bioassay (in vivo) work being carried out elsewhere under contract. Analytical studies are reported using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify the complex products formed during the controlled pyrolysis and thermal oxidative decomposition of butadiene‐styrene latex rubber foam, polyacrylonitrile and polypropylene under low (30–400°C), medium (400–650°C) and high (700–900°C) temperature conditions. Studies are reported of the products formed during smouldering and flaming fires in an experimental 0.4 m3 fire chamber in an attempt to reproduce conditions relevant to the early stages of fires. In this way, chromatographic fingerprinting of the smouldering products from BS latex rubber foam, and the flaming products of wood wool and polypropylene are given and where possible the major components identified. The relevance of this analytical work in predicting the types of products likely to be encountered during various stages of burning is discussed. General information on the pathological studies and bioassay work being carried out at the Department of Forensic Medicine, University of Glasgow and at the Huntingdon Research Centre respectively are given in order to integrate the overall research programmes and methods of approach being adopted to give an insight into the very difficult area of toxicity assessment.