Premium
Discussion of smoke corrosivity test methods: Analysis of existing tests and of their results
Author(s) -
Hirschler Marcelo M.
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.810170506
Subject(s) - smoke , corrosion , environmental science , engineering , forensic engineering , fire test , waste management , materials science , metallurgy , structural engineering
Smoke corrosivity was, until recently, associated only with acid, mainly halogenated, gas emission. It has now been shown that all smoke is corrosive, even if it does not contain acid gases. Moreover, acid gas emission from burning materials does not fully correlate with smoke corrosive potential. Many factors govern corrosion, e.g. smoke amount and composition, humidity and temperature. Four small‐scale performance tests for smoke corrosivity have been proposed and are described: CNET, ASTM E‐5.21.70 draft radiant, ASTM D‐9.21.4 draft cone corrosimeter and DIN 53436 draft flow‐through tests. All are undergoing attempts at standardization but none has completed the process. Furthermore, none of them has, as yet, been correlated with full‐scale fires. An analysis was made of the advantages and disadvantages of each of the tests, based on the concepts applied, on the reproducibility and on the results supplied to date. Of particular interest in this respect was a study, by the Society of the Plastics Industry Polyolefins Fire Performance Council, which tested over 20 materials using three of the tests mentioned above. This analysis suggests that the cone corrosimeter is the most promising. The three main reasons for this statement are: (1) it generates a broad range of smoke corrosivity data,(2) the data have good reproducibility and (3) the apparatus is capable of yielding, with an excellent fire model, a whole range of fire properties other than smoke corrosivity. Moreover, this analysis also suggests that the CNET test is the one with the largest number of negative aspects.