NBSIR 88-3771

Small Flame Ignitability and

Flammability Behavior of

Upholstered Furniture Materials

John F. Krasny

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Center for Fire Research

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

and

Dingyi Huang, Guest Worker

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

and

Shanghai Fire Research Institute

Peoples Republic of China

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

June 1988

75 Years Stimulating America's Progress 1913-1988

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

NBSIR 88-3771

SMALL FLAME IGNITABILITY AND

FLAMMABILITY BEHAVIOR OF

UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE MATERIALS

John F. Krasny

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

Center for Fire Research

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

and

Dingyi Huang, Guest Worker

U.S, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Bureau of Standards

and

Shanghai Fire Research Institute

Peoples Republic of China

Gaithersburg, MD 20899

June 1988

U.S, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE, C. William Verity, Secretary

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS, Ernest Ambler, Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

List of Tables ............ iv

List of Figures v

Abstract 1

1. Introduction ................... ..... 2

2. Materials .................. ....... 4

3 . Methods ............................... 4

4. Results .......... ............... 6

5. Suggestions for Further Development of a Small Flame Ignitability Test

Method for Upholstered Furniture Substrates. 8

6. References 11

iii
List of Tables

Page

Table 1. Materials 13

Table 2. Ignition Behavior of Upholstered Furniture Substrates

(arranged by material) 14

Table 3. Ignition Behavior of Upholstered furniture Substrates .... 15

iv
List of Figures

Page

Figure 1. Small flame test arrangement ...... 16

Figure 2A. Example of specimen showing ignition when exposed to a small

flame test 17

Figure 2B. Example of specimen not showing ignition when exposed to a small flame test 18

v

SMALL FLAME IGNITABILITY AND FLAMMABILITY BEHAVIOR OF

UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE MATERIALS

John F. Krasny, Dingyi Huang1

Abstract

Identical upholstered furniture fabric and padding specimens were

exposed to four increasingly severe small flaming ignition sources

and to a radiant source. The small ignition sources were partly

patterned after the Bunsen burner tests of BS 5852 Part 2. For the

radiant source, the Cone Calorimeter was used, and specimens were

exposed to irradiances of 10 and 15 kW/m2

. A wide range of ignition

properties was found, depending on both the cover fabric and padding.

The relationship between Cone Calorimeter and small scale ignition

tests was generally as follows: Specimens, which, when exposed in

the Cone Calorimeter at 15 kW/m2 irradiance, reached a heat release

rate of 50 kW/m2 in less than 60 seconds generally were ignited by

the two smaller sources used. Conversely, specimens which reached

this heat release rate in longer times generally had greater small

flame ignition resistance. Suggestions are also made for further

improvements in the design of small scale flaming ignition and Cone

Calorimeter tests for specimens combining a upholstery fabric and a padding. The major such improvement would be to break the char in

such test, which probably often breaks in real life experiments but

in small scale experiments may protect the padding material.

Key words: BS 5852 Part 2 test; Cone Calorimeter; ignition; heat

release rate; mattresses; radiant ignition; upholstered furniture.

1 Guest worker from the Shanghai Fire Research Institute, Peoples

Republic of China.

1
1. Introduction

This paper describes a study of the small flame ignitability of upholstered

furniture substrates2 and its relationship to the behavior of the same

materials under radiant heat exposure tests. Such a relationship, if

available, could minimize the requirement for testing to be done with

multiple test apparatuses or ignition sources.

The general topic of the burning behavior of upholstered furniture and

mattresses (soft furnishings) has been discussed at length in a recent

monograph [1]. Several major points are pertinent to the present study:

• Ideally, soft furnishings would resist ignition from three separate

sources: cigarettes, small flames, and relatively high heat fluxes from

burning items in a room. In the latter case, ignition cannot always be

avoided, but low rates of flame spread, heat release, and toxic gases

development are desirable.

• None of the most popular commercial cover fabrics and paddings used in

soft furnishing have both cigarette and small flame ignition resistance

[1]. For instance, cellulosic fabrics with cotton batting resist small

flames somewhat better than thermoplastic fabrics over polyurethane foam

The latter combinations, however, have better cigarette ignition

resistance

.

® Cigarettes cause approximately 70 percent of the soft furnishing

ignitions and over 30 percent of residential fire deaths [2,3],

Consequently, the United States has concentrated on protection against

cigarette ignition. Mattresses are covered by a Federal standard

administered by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) [4]

.

A

voluntary standard sponsored by the Upholstered Furniture Action

2 Substrate is here defined as an assembly consisting of a furniture or

mattress cover fabric and padding.

2
Committee (UFAC) applies to residential upholstered furniture [5].

Another voluntary standard, by the Business and Institutional Furniture

Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) applies to their furniture lines [6].

The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has adopted the UFAC

standard under designation NFPA 260-A, and a standard developed by the

National Bureau of Standards for the Consumer Products Safety Commission

(but never adopted because of the UFAC voluntary action) as NFPA 260-B

[7]

. Also, furniture sold in California is covered by a state standard

[ 8

]

.

• Interest in small flame ignitability of soft furnishings in the United

States has been relatively low. California [8] and BIFMA [5] have

separate flame resistance tests for the fabric, padding, etc. California

also has a mockup test for institutional furniture [9]. In this test,

the specimen is a scaled down mockup of a chair containing fabric and

padding arranged as in the proposed line of furniture. The ignition

source is 9.5 g of crumpled newspaper. Several individual countries and

the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have adopted or

are considering adoption of flame ignition tests for furniture, using a series of ignition sources of increasing intensity, based on the British

BS 5852 Part 2 mockup test [10]. However, this test requires quite large

specimens and, as written, does not give any fire hazard information

beyond a pass/fail rating. No truly small-scale ignitability screening

test for upholstered furniture specimens has been offered.

• Finally, an extensive discussion of the large amount of work on full

scale fire behavior of soft furnishings is given in the above-mentioned

NBS Monograph [1]. An analysis of many aspects of common, small ignition

sources has been recently prepared by British researchers [11].

Correlation of large-scale behavior with bench-scale tests, especially

the Cone Calorimeter, is discussed in [12]. Ignition of soft furnishings

by other items which are burning in a room is analyzed in [13].

For this project, a small flame ignition screening test was developed. It is

modeled loosely after the British BS 5852 Part 2 test, and uses four ignition

3
modes of increasing severity. The Cone Calorimeter [14] was used to study

the behavior of the same substrates under modest levels of irradiance , 10 and

15 kW/m2

. The Cone Calorimeter is typically used [1] to measure radiant

ignitability , peak rates of heat release, and other fire characteristics

related to the later stages of a fire. While direct flaming ignition data

can always be obtained from running a set of tests in a BS 5852 Part 2 type

apparatus, it was desired to explore whether, using the Cone Calorimeter

alone, such measures could be evolved.

2. Materials

Six typical upholstery fabric and padding materials were chosen and are

described in Table 1. Four fabrics (one thermoplastic, two cellulosics, and

a wool) were each tested in conjunction with a polyurethane foam, a neoprene

foam, and cotton batting paddings. In addition, two nylon fabrics (A and B)

were tested with "combustion-modified" polyurethane foam specimens (F-4 and

F-9). The latter substrates had been previously tested by the California

Bureau of Home Furnishings using their newly-developed test method for

institutional furniture in mockup form [9]. In some cases, single specimens

of each substrate were exposed, in others, duplicates.

3. Methods

Sample Preparation.

For both the small flame ignition and Cone Calorimeter testing, the specimen

size was nominally 100 x 100 mm, 50 mm thick. [The specimen size in the

standard BS 5852 Part 2 procedure is substantially larger than that, which

allows the use of crib ignition sources. Since cribs were not to be used in

the present project, a smaller specimen size was adopted for this work.] The

padding was covered with fabric cut into a cruciform shape. Both the top and

the sides of the specimen were covered by fabric; the fabric was stapled to

the padding near the bottom along the sides. For the Cone Calorimeter

specimens, the sides of the specimen were covered with aluminum foil.

4
Ignition Tests.

The following small ignition sources were used in the small flame ignition

tests

Source 1 was a 150 mg methenamine pill, having a burning time of 90 to 120 s; this was placed in the center of the 100 x 100 mm, horizontal specimen

surface. This pill has been reported to have similar ignition effects to the

British Standard No. 1 ignition source [14], which, in turn, reportedly gives

similar results to wooden matches [16-19].

The 100 x 100 mm surface of vertically-oriented specimens was also exposed to

propane flames emanating from the British Standard burner, a 200 mm long, 6.8

mm ID stainless steel tube [10]. The lower edge of the flame was about 25 mm

above the bottom edge of the specimen. Figure 1 shows the test arrangement.

Three exposures were used in these vertical tests:

Source 2: 20s exposure time, 160 ml/min (97 W)

Source 3: 20s exposure time, 350 ml/min (210 W)

Source 4: 40s exposure time, 350 ml/min (420 W)

These sources do not correspond directly to the sources used by BS 5852

Part 2. Instead, they were chosen to cover a variation of both ignition time

and ignition source severity. Testing was always started with source 1, the

methenamine pill. When a substrate specimen ignited with one ignition

source, this substrate was then generally exposed only to the next more

severe ignition source, and only if sufficient material was available.

All specimens were tested while placed on a load cell platform, and mass loss

vs. time graphs obtained. There usually was a "first slope" during the

contact with the ignition source. Ignition would then be indicated by a sharp increase in this slope, and self -extinguishment by a decrease in the

slope. (Self -extinguishment occurred on the specimen surface in some cases,

in others only when the flames reached an edge. In such cases, larger

specimens of the materials should be tested to determine whether self5
extinguishment was due to an edge effect.) Specimens were extinguished after

they lost 2 g because this mass loss occurred at or after the time when the

specimens showed obvious flaming. Figures 2a and 2b show typical mass loss

curves for these tests.

The Cone Calorimeter tests were carried out as prescribed in [14] and [15].

4. Results

The results of the Cone Calorimeter experiments, with 10 and 15 kW/m2 irradiance distributed evenly over the specimen surface, and of the small

ignition source experiments are shown in Table 2. Many specimens did not

ignite at 10 kW/m2 irradiance but only a few resisted 15 kW/m2 irradiance.

The peak heat release rate at each irradiance, the time it took to reach this

rate, and the time to 50 kW/m2 heat release rate are shown. In some cases,

duplicate specimens were tested. The individual results differed by 10 to 70

percent of the average value shown in the table. (High scatter of results is

normally seen in heat release rate tests for materials which are heated with

an irradiance only slightly higher than their actual critical ignition flux.)

The following are the findings with respect to the behavior of the various

materials shown in Table 2:

• With respect to fabric rankings:

Substrates covered with wool fabrics had the highest resistance to the

small ignition sources and to Cone Calorimeter exposures at 10 kW/m2

irradiance, but ignited at 15 kW/m2

. Somewhat lower in ignition

resistance were the various substrates covered with the heavy cotton

fabrics, followed by those covered with the lighter cotton velvet.

Finally, the olefin fabric covered substrates had the lowest ignition

resistance, because the fabric shrank and melted, exposing the padding to

the flames or irradiance. In some cases, the olefin-covered substrates

performed worse than the padding alone; even some neoprene paddings

6
ignited, probably because the molten olefin burned somewhat like a small

pool fire.

• The two substrates containing the rather heavily bequeathed nylon fabrics

A and B and the two proprietary combustion modified foams F-4 and F-9

resisted the 10 kW/m2 exposure; the fabrics melted and the foams charred.

At 15 kW/m2

, all but A/F-9 ignited readily. Exposed to the small flames,

these substrates ignited, but in five of the eight experiments with

ignition sources 1 and 2, self -extinguishment occurred. Insufficient

material was available for tests with the other ignition sources. This

self -extinguishing response is rarely seen under the irradiance of the

Cone Calorimeter since the radiant heat source is not turned off during

the test.

• With respect to the ranking of padding materials:

As expected, the substrates containing neoprene had the best ignition

resistance, with generally only the fabric burning if there was any

ignition at all. The polyurethane -containing substrates ignited most

readily.

• None of the padding materials tested without a fabric cover ignited upon

small flame exposure except the polyurethane. (Cotton batting was not

tested in the vertical mode because of specimen mounting difficulties.)

The neoprene did not ignite in the Cone Calorimeter at either the 10 or

15 kW/m2

. The other materials, except for the F-9 foam, ignited at 10

kW/m2

.

Table 3 shows the same results but with the substrates arranged by increasing

time to a 50 kW/m2 rate of heat release, when tested in the Cone Calorimeter

at a 15 kW/m2 irradiance. Within the limitations imposed by the

reproducibility of the results, the most important finding is that specimens

which reached 50 kW/m2 in a relatively short time, 60 s or less, also ignited

with small flame ignition sources 1 or 2 . Those with times exceeding 60 s generally did not sustain ignition with these ignition sources. Exceptions

7
are specimens A/F4 and B/F4: in these cases, the nylon fabric melted and the

moderately combustion modified foams burned tenuously when exposed to

ignition source 2; the B/F4 combination ignited but self -extinguished under

ignition source 1.

Thus a general relationship has been demonstrated between the ignition

rankings in the burner tests and ones from the Cone Calorimeter data. There

are a few discrepancies. Some of these may be explained by the finding that

certain char- forming fabrics, in this case cotton and wool, can shrink and

break open under conditions of uniform surface irradiance , as created in the

Cone Calorimeter, while they may not do so when exposed to a small, localized

test flame. When the fabric breaks open, ignition resistance becomes mostly

a function of the padding characteristics. The wool and the heavy cotton

fabric substrates were relatively easily ignitable in the Cone Calorimeter,

compared to their better resistance to the small burner flame. Conversely,

the specimens using the F-4 substrate ignited more readily from the small

burner flame sources than their behavior in the Cone Calorimeter indicated.

A specific reason for this behavior is not known.

5. Suggestions for Further Development of a Small Flame Ignitability Test

Method for Upholstered Furniture Substrates.

This work was intended to be exploratory, to initiate development of a small

flame ignition method for upholstered furniture, and the possible

relationship of the results obtained by this method to Cone Calorimeter

results

.

The small flame ignition test arrangement used in this study appears to be

basically viable for screening procedure specimens for resistance to ignition

sources simulating matches, lighters, etc. However, if self -extinguishment

is observed after the flame or smolder reach the edges of the flat area of

the specimens, the test should be repeated with larger specimens to determine

whether that the result was due to an edge effect. The mass loss vs. time

curve can supplement visual observation of ignition or non- ignition, by

direct indication of mass loss rates. Experiments with a wider variety of

fabrics and padding materials should be conducted to confirm the above

8
findings, and to determine mass loss vs. time slopes which correspond to

continuous flaming, smoldering, and self -extinguishment behaviors.

The results also indicate that measurements available from the Cone

Calorimeter may also be used to predict whether or not small flame ignitions

may occur. Specimens which, under 15 kW/m2 irradiance require more than 60

seconds to reach 50 kW/m2 heat release rate will probably not be ignited by

exposure to burning matches or cigarette lighters. By such a use of the data

from the Cone Calorimeter (which has additional applications to furniture

flammability testing [12]), possibly separate flaming ignition testing and

test apparatus can be obviated. A larger number of replicate tests should be

run and confidence limits established.

Two factors limit the quality of this prediction. First, some char- forming

fabrics shrink and break in the Cone Calorimeter, but not upon exposure to

small ignition sources. Second, there might be an irradiance threshold for

the release of gas phase flame retardant which may not be attained with small

ignition sources. In both cases, the Cone Calorimeter results are closer to

the worst case than are the small flame ignition sources. Further

exploration of the effects of the two larger ignition sources discussed here,

and possibly additional ignition sources, seems indicated.

The work then suggests a test method modification. In future work,

consideration should be given to the fact that char- forming fabrics only

protect the padding until they break open. Breaking open can occur due to

the tension applied to the upholstery fabric during furniture manufacture and

can be exacerbated by heat shrinkage, or due to char brittleness. Breaking

open may also depend on both the size of the specimen and the size of the

area exposed to flames or radiant heat, and may be less likely for the smallsize specimens used in the small -flame ignitability apparatus or even the

Cone Calorimeter, than for full-scale furniture. It could, however, be

simulated by piercing the fabric some time during exposure, to simulate

(quite likely to occur) worst case conditions.

9
The relationships identified in this paper, when developed and implemented

for testing use, could result in savings of test effort, since the Cone

Calorimeter could be used to predict the behavior of upholstery materials

both towards small ignition sources as well as in larger fires.

10
6

References

1. Babrauskas , V. , and Krasny, J., Fire Behavior of Upholstered Furniture

(Monograph 173), [U.S.] Nat. Bur. Stand. (1985).

2. Karter, M. J. and Gansarski, J. L. Fire Loss in the United States during

1983, Fire Journal. 78, 48 (September 1984).

3. Harwood, B., Trends in Cigarette - Ignited Fires, Consumer Product Safety

Commission Internal Memorandum, (March 1985)

4. Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1632, Standard for the Flammability of

Mattress (and Mattress Pads), FF4-72 (1983).

5. Important Consumer Information from UFAC , Upholstered Furniture Action

Council, High Point, NC (1984).

6. The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer's Association

First Generation Voluntary Upholstered Furniture Flammability Standard

for Business and Institutional Markets, BIFMA, Grand Rapids (1980).

7. Standard Method of Tests and Classification System for Cigarette

Ignition Resistance of Components of Upholstered Furniture (NFPA 260 A)

,

Standard Method of Test for Determining Resistance of Mock-Up

Upholstered Furniture Material Assemblies to Ignition by Smoldering

Cigarettes (NFPA 260 B) , National Fire Protection Association, Quincy,

MA. .

8. Flammability Information Package, State of California, Department of

Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings, North Highlands, CA

(1985).

9. Technical Bulletin No. 133, Flammability Test Procedure for Seating

Furniture for Use in High Risk and Public Occupancies, State of

California, Department of Consumer Affairs, Bureau of Home Furnishings,

North Highlands, CA (1984).

10. Fire Tests for Furniture, Part 1, Methods of Test for the Ignitability

by Smoker's Materials of Upholstered Composites for Seating (1979).

Part 2, Methods of Test for the Ignitability of Upholstered Composites

for Seating by Flaming Sources (1982), British Standard BS 5852, British

Standards Ins titution , London.

11. Paul, K.T.

,

and Christian, S.D., Standard Flaming Ignition Sources for

Upholstered Composites, Furniture and Bed Assembly Tests, J. Fire

Sciences, to appear.

12. Babrauskas, V., and Krasny, J. F. , Prediction of Upholstered Chair Heat

Release Rates from Bench-Scale Measurements, pp . 268-282 in Fire Safety:

Science and Engineering (ASTM STP 882) , American Society for Testing and

Materials, Philadelphia (1985).

11
13. Babrauskas , V., Will the Second Item Ignite? Fire Safety J. 4, 287-292

(1982)

.

14. Babrauskas, V., Development of the Cone Calorimeter -- A Bench- Scale

Heat Release Apparatus Based on Oxygen Consumption, Fire & Materials. 8,

81-95 (1984).

15. Proposed Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for

Materials and Products using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter (E-5

Proposal P 190), Annual Book of ASTM Standards . Vol. 04.07, American

Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia (1986).

16. Pakkala, L. , Ignitability of Beds and Bedding, Research Report No. 247,

Technical Research Center of Finland, Espoo, Finland (January 1984).

17. Pakkala, L. , Kortekallio, E. L. , and Ulmanen, M. , Ignitability of

Upholstered Furniture, Nordtest Project 186-79, VTT Research Note

69/1982, Technical Research Center of Finland, Espoo, Finland (1982).

18. Schultz, B., Flammability Testing of Combination of Furniture Cover

Fabric Interliners, and Filling Materials, (Reports TFB 78002FR and

TFB70001) Swedish Textile Research Institute, Gothenberg, Sweden, (1978-

1979).

19. Benisek, L. , and Phillips, W. A., The Importance and Relevance of

Burning Behavior, Smoke, and CO Emission from Upholstered Seating, J.

Consumer Product Flammability. 5, 96-110 (1978).

12
Table 1. Materials

Designation Materials Weight Description

A. Fabrics (g/m2

) OL Olefin 360 dyed, bequeathed

CV Cotton 560 dyed, velvet

HC Cotton 650 raw cotton,

bequeathed

W

bequeathed

Wool 480 dyed

,

A. bequeathed

Nylon 450 dyed

,

B Nylon 285 dyed

B . Padding (kg/m3

)

PU Polyurethane

foam

17

NP Neoprene (Toyad

LS 200) a foam

142

CB Cotton batting 27 not flame

retarded

F4 Experimental foam 45

F9 Pyro thane CMHR

(Scott Co .

)

a foam

76 Combustion

modified

,

high resiliency

polyurethane

NOTE: All materials except padding F4 are commercially available.

Certain commercial materials are identified in this paper in order to illustrate 'adequately certain specific characteristics. Such identification does

not imply recommendation or indorsement by the National Bureau of Standards,

nor does it imply that the item is necessarily the best available for the

purpose

13
Table 2. Ignition Behavior of Upholstered Furniture Substrates

(arranged by material)

Cone Calorimeter, Irradiance

10 kW/n-i 15 kW/m Small Ignition Source

Peak T ime to T ime to Peak T ime to Time to Ignition Behavior

RHR Peak 50 kW/m2 RHR Peak 50 kW/m2 (two replicates

)

Fabric Padding (kW) (s) (s) (kW) (s) (s) 1* 2* 3* 4*

W NP N 115+ 110+ 100+ N/N N/N N/N SE/N

CB N

- - 275 90 75 N/N N/N N/N SE/SE

PU N 330+ 195 105+ N/N N/N I/I I/I

CV NP N

_ _ 165 210 195 N/N N/N N/N I/N

CB 190 150 135 265 65 50 SE/SE I/I - - PU 215 285 180 235 195 55 I/I I/I

HC NP 125 215 205 165 115 105 N/N SE/N SE/N _ CB 160 135 120 205 100 85 N/N SE/SE SE/SE SE/SE

PU 170 140 125 195 95 80 N/N SE/SE IS/IS

OL NP 135 160 140 220 45 35 I/N I/N - - CB 210 90 80 365 30 15 I/I I/I - - PU 375 170 80 420 110 20 I/I I/I

A F-9 N N

„ SE/SE SE/SE - _ F-4 N 200 330 115 SE/N I/I

B F-9 N 280 170 155 SE/SE SE/SE - - F-4 N 230 190 120 IS/IS I/I

none NP N

— «=, N

«= N N N N CB 90 170 165 - - - - - - - PU 415 130 80 335 75 20 I I I I F-9 N

- - 95 75 70 N N N N F-4 95 790 530 155 95 65 N N N SE

+ : Heat release rate of one specimen; duplicate did not ignite.

*: 1 - Methenamine pill, 150 mg, horizontal orientation

2 - 160 ml/min butane for 20s, vertical orientation

3 - 350 ml/min butane for 20s, vertical orientation

4 - 350 ml/min butane for 40s, vertical orientation

N: No ignition

I: Ignition

SE: Ignition but self-extinguished

IS: Ignition--smoldered

Note; Repeatability for peak heat release rate measured by the Cone Calorimeter is generally within 10

percent: it is higher, up to perhaps 20 percent for time to events. However, some of the specimens of

the present series ignited, while duplicates did not ignite, depending on whether the cover fabric broke

open and exposed the padding.

14
Table 3. Ignition Behavior of Upholstered Furniture Substrates

3

Specimen

Time to ignition

(10 kW/m2

)

Time to ignition

(15 kW/m2

)

Time to

50 kW/m2 (15 kW/m2

)

Peak heat

release rate

(15 kW/m2

) #1

Small ignition

sources

#2 #3 #4

OL/CB 70 25 15 365 I/I I/I

OL/PU 85 30 20 420 I/I I/I

OL/NP 140 45 35 220 I/N I/N

CV/CB 125 55 50 265 SE/SE I/I

CV/PU 140 60 55 235 I/I I/I

W/CB CO 50 75 275 N/N N/N N/N SE/SE

HC/PU 115 65 80 195 N/N SE/SE IS/IS

HC/CB 110 65 85 205 N/N SE/SE SE/SE SE/SE

W/NP CO 100 100 115 N/N N/N N/N SE/N

HC/NP 195 125 105 165 N/N SE/N SE/N

W/PU co 85 105 330 N/N N/N I/I I/I

A/F4 co 95 115 200 SE/N I/I

B/F4 CO 100 120 230 IS/IS I/I

B/F9 CO 140 155 280 SE/SE SE/SE

CV/NP CO 170 195 165 N/N N/N N/N I/N

A/F9 CO co CO 0 SE/SE SE/SE

2

2

a: arranged according to time to reach 50 kW/m ’ with an imposed irradiance of 15 kW/m . *: 1 - Methenamine pill, 150 mg, horizontal orientation

2 - 160 ml/min butane for 20s, vertical orientation

3 - 350 ml/min butane for 20s, vertical orientation

4 - 350 ml/min butane for 40s, vertical orientation

N: No ignition

I: Ignition

SE: Ignition but self-extinguished

IS: Ignition--smoldered

15
1. Enclosure 6. Cover fabric

2. Platform 7. Padding

3. Gas line 8, Specimen holder

4, Flame 9 . Load cell

5. Specimen holders

Figure 1. Small flame test arrangement

16
TIME (»)

Figure 2A„ Example of specimen showing ignition when

exposed to a small flame test

17
MASS

LOSS

(g)

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

TIME (s)

Figure 2B. Example of specimen not showing ignition when exposed

to a small flame test

18
FORM NBS-1 1 4A (REV 11 -84)

U.S. DEPT. OF COMM.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATA

SHEET (See instructions)

1. PUBLICATION OR

REPORT NO.

NBSIR 88/3771

2. Performing Organ. Report No. 3. Publication Date

June 1988

4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE

SMALL FLAME IGNITABILITY AND FLAMMABILITY BEHAVIOR OF UPHOLSTERED

FURNITURE MATERIALS

5. AUTHOR(S) John F. Krasny, Dingy i Huang, Guest Worker

6. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION (If joint or other than NBS, see in struction s)

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

GAITHERSBURG, MD 20899

Shanghai Fire Research

and Institute

Peoples Republic of China

7. Contract/Grant No.

8. Type of Report & Period Covered

9. SPONSORING ORGANIZATION NAME AND COMPLETE ADDRESS (Street. City. State. ZIP)

10. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES

J Document describes a computer program; SF-185, FlPS Software Summary, is attached.

11. ABSTRACT (A 200-word or less factual summary of most significant information. If document includes a significant

bi bl iography or literature survey , mention it here)

Identical upholstered furniture fabric and padding specimens were exposed to

four increasingly severe small flaming ignition sources and to a radiant

source. The small ignition sources were partly patterned after the Bunsen

burner tests of BS 5852 Part 2. For the radiant source, the Cone Calorimeter

was used, and specimens were exposed to irradiances of 10 and 15 kW/m2

. A wide

range of ignition properties was found, depending on both the cover fabric and

padding. The relationship between Cone Calorimeter and small scale ignition

tests was generally as follows: Specimens, which, when exposed in the Cone

Calorimeter at 15 kW/m2 irradiance, reached a heat release rate of 50 kW/m2 in

less than 60 seconds generally were ignited by the two smaller sources used.

Conversely, specimens which reached this heat release rate in longer times

generally had greater small flame ignition resistance. Suggestions are also

made for further improvements in the design of small scale flaming ignition and

Cone Calorimeter tests for specimens combining a upholstery fabric and a

padding. The major such improvement would be to break the char in such test,

which probably often breaks in real life experiments but in small scale

experiments may protect the padding material.

12. KEY WORDS (Six to twelve entries; alphabetical order; capitalize only proper names; and separate key words by semicolon s) BS 852 Part 2; cone calorimeters; heat release rate; ignition; mattresses;

radiant ignition; upholstered furniture

13. AVAILABILITY

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