Upward Flame Spread on Composite Materials.
Upward Flame Spread on Composite Materials.
(817 K)
Ohlemiller, T. J.; Cleary, T. G.
Chapter 28; ACS Symposium Series 599;
ISSN ISSN 0170-0060
American Chemical Society. Fire and Polymers II:
Materials and Tests for Hazard Prevention. National
Meeting, 208th. ACS Symposium Series 599. August 21-26,
1994, Washington, DC, American Chemical Society,
Washington, DC, Nelson, G. L., Editor(s), 422-434 pp,
1999.
Fire Safety Journal, Vol. 32, 159-172, 1999.
Keywords:
fire retardants; flame retardants; composite materials;
flame spread; experiments; heat flux; cone calorimeters
Abstract:
Three existing models of upward flame spread were tested
against intermediate-scale experiments on a
vinyl-ester/glass composite. Characterization of rate
of heat release per unit area, needed as input to the
models, was obtained at external radiant fluxes below
the minimum for ignition by adaptation of a method due
to Kulkarni. There are several limitations on the
accuracy of the material characterization when applied
to composites. Each of the flame spread models has
definite limitations as well. Nevertheless, all three
models produced predictions of spread behavior in
sufficiently quantitative agreement with the experiments
that they should prove useful for engineering analyses
of flame spread potential.
