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 Engineering Laboratory /                  Fire Research Division
      National Fire Research Laboratory

    
    Breadcrumb
        Fire Calorimetry Database (FCD)Fire Barriers in Full-Scale Chair Mock-ups

            Research Overview
                                The effectiveness and the failure mechanism of fire barriers in residential upholstered furniture were investigated by full-scale flaming tests on upholstered chair mock-ups. Six commercial fire barriers were tested in this study. In the fire barriers, the presence of elements that are typically used in fire retardants were screened by several analytical methodologies; none of the targeted fire retardants were found by means of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. For each fire barrier, triplicate flammability tests were run on chair mock-ups where polyurethane foam and polyester fiber fill were used as the padding materials, and each chair component was fully wrapped with the fire barrier of choice and a polypropylene cover fabric. The ignition source was an 18 kW square propane burner, impinging on the top surface of the seat cushion for 80 s. Results showed all six fire barriers reduced the peak heat release rate (as much as 64 %) and delayed its occurrence (up to 19 min) as compared to the control chair mock-ups. The heat release rate remained at a relatively low plateau level until liquid products (generated by either melting or pyrolysis of the padding material) percolated through the fire barrier at the bottom of the seat cushion and ignited, while the fire barrier was presumably intact. The flaming liquid products dripped and quickly formed a pool fire under the chair and the peak heat release rate occurred shortly thereafter. Ultimately, the ignition of the percolating liquid products at the bottom of the seat cushion was identified as the mechanism triggering the failure of the fire barrier.


                  Thompson A.L., Kim I., Hamins A., Bundy M., and Zammarano M., Performance and Failure Mechanism of Fire Barriers in Full-Scale Chair Mock-ups, Fire and Materials. 2021; 1- 18.
  http://doi.org/10.1002/fam.3007
                                        Project Web page for Flaming Tests on Upholstered Chair Mock-Ups
  https://www.nist.gov/el/fire-research-division-73300/flammability-reduction-73304/low-heat-release-upholstered-2
  

      

      Experiment Name
                            Plot of Heat Release Rate
                                                  Ignition Photo
                                                  Date/Time
                                                  Specimen
                                                  Fuel TypeSort descending
                            Test Duration (min)
                            Total Heat Released (MJ)
                            Peak HRR (kW)B5-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/12/2018 6:47:53 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            22.95
                            327
                            1,547B3-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/12/2018 9:13:01 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            22.33
                            339
                            657B2-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/12/2018 10:19:14 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            20.38
                            314
                            2,320B1-2
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/13/2018 5:20:22 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            37.68
                            313
                            1,063C0-2
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/18/2018 6:45:17 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            16.17
                            325
                            2,697Control-Smoldering
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/18/2018 10:01:28 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            40.28
                            below detection limit
                            9.4C0-3
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/20/2018 5:15:40 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            19.43
                            321
                            2,517B4-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/11/2018 7:31:01 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            19.65
                            310
                            2,084C0-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/11/2018 10:11:22 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            14.60
                            315
                            2,834B6-1
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/12/2018 4:43:20 AM EDT
                                                                                        upholstered chair mockup
                                                                                        Polyurethane Foam
                            41.07
                            301
                            1,080Propane Burner Check
                            Plot of Fire Heat Release Rate with event markers. Uncertainty bar shown at peak value.
                                                                                        Ignition
                                                                                        06/11/2018 7:09:07 AM EDT
                                                                                        gas tube burner
                                                                                        Propane
                            2.98
                            3.22
                            24.3

      Bryant, R. and Bundy, M. The NIST 20 MW Calorimetry Measurement System for Large-Fire Research, Technical Note (NIST TN) 2077, 2019https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.TN.2077
        NIST Fire Calorimetry Database (FCD)https://doi.org/10.18434/mds2-2314

      Last Updated July 14, 2021
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