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 Engineering Laboratory /                  Fire Research Division
      Flammability Reduction Group
    
      
  Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture
                            Expand or Collapse
          Reduced-Scale Test to Assess the Effect of Fire Barriers on the Flaming Combustion of Cored Composites
                      Flaming Tests on Upholstered Chair Mock-Ups
                      Full-Scale Experiments to Demonstrate Flammability Risk of Residential Upholstered Furniture and Mitigation Using Barrier FabricLow Heat Release Upholstered Furniture

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Barrier Fabric Compartment FlashoverTo reduce the flammability of residential upholstered furniture (RUF), the fire safety community has developed various test methods and mitigation strategies based on the ignition source type: smoldering or open flame. Recent analysis of fire losses indicates that residential upholstered furniture fires are twelve times more deadly than residential fires in general and a majority of the residential upholstered furniture fire causalities occur when the furniture is flaming. Therefore, this research thrust area is aimed at enabling assessment of the fire performance of low heat release upholstered furniture (L-RUF); i.e., furniture with very low heat release and peak heat release rate. Due to concerns about the use of chemical fire retardants in furniture, research to identify and support the development of non-fire retardant technologies that enable low heat release upholstered furniture is being conducted in the NIST Flammability Reduction Group (FRG).

Because the fire community and the existing regulations generally view residential upholstered furniture flammability in terms of ignition type (primarily smoldering ignition), this work also continues to advance decreases in smoldering ignition losses by supporting the use of NIST Standard Reference Material (SRM) cigarettes in standard fire testing and supporting the development of new or improved smoldering test standards.



The Cube Test

This study proposes a bench-scale fire test using a cone-calorimeter to assess the propensity of a material or an ensemble of materials to produce a pool fire.
(click image to access project page)

Chair Mock-Up Tests

The effectiveness and the failure mechanism of fire barriers in residential upholstered furniture are investigated by flaming tests on upholstered chair mock-ups.

 
      (click image to access project page)

Room-Scale Experiments

These experiments quantify the effect of barrier fabrics on the fire hazard of residential upholstered furniture at room scale in typical furnished compartments.
(click image to access project page)
  Fire, Fire risk reduction and Materials flammability

    
    Contacts
      
        

Mauro Zammarano
    
      
  mauro.zammarano@nist.gov
  (301) 975-5244

Created November 2, 2020, Updated March 17, 2021 Reduced-Scale Test to Assess the Effect of Fire Barriers on the Flaming Combustion of Cored Composites ›
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