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Evaluation of polymer combustion and fire retardance by using thermography
Author(s) -
Bertelli G.,
Benassi R.,
Marchini R.,
Camino G.,
Costa L.,
Luda M. P.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.810170305
Subject(s) - combustion , thermography , environmental science , polymer , materials science , fire performance , fire hazard , combustibility , fire test , forensic engineering , composite material , engineering , chemistry , physics , fire resistance , infrared , optics , environmental protection , organic chemistry
The temperature distribution in the condensed and gas phase during combustion of polymer materials in fire tests was measured by means of thermography. It is shown that these data are very useful for mechanistic rationalization of the diagnostically poor, fail‐pass rating of most of these tests. Preliminary data were obtained for polymer materials, fire retarded or not, burning in the widely used Glow Wire and UL 94 tests. It is shown that the relative fire hazard and test rating may depend strongly on the combustion parameter on which the rating is based. Furthermore, detailed data on temperature distribution are helpful in eliminating intrinsic ambiguity of the UL 94 classification in the case of fire‐retarded materials burning with dripping.