ASTM E 84, Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials

ASTM E 84, Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials  

This ASTM fire test large-scale procedure describes determination of the relative burning behavior of the material in a form of a 24-ft long panel. The test is conducted with the specimen in the ceiling position with the surface to be evaluated exposed face down to the ignition surface. The specimen shall be either self-supporting by its own structural quality or supported from its front or the backside. 

Two separate (and not necessarily related) readouts of the test are (a) flame spread along the surface of the specimen as a distance traveled by the boundary of a zone of flame over time and (b) smoke developed as a change in optical density (as a progress curve of light absorption percent) between the light source and the photoelectric cell mounted in the vent pipe. These data are used to calculate the respective FSI and SDI as described in the ASTM test procedure. The indexes are calculated as relative values to those of select grade oak (FSI arbitrarily set as 100) and inorganic reinforced cement board (FSI set as 0) surfaces under the specified conditions. 

The procedure notices that some materials melt or drip to such a degree that they interfere with the continuity of the flame and result in an apparent low FSI. 

The test method exposes a 24-ft (7.32-m) long by 20.25-in. (0.514-m) wide specimen to a controlled air flow and adjusts the observed flame spread to that with the select grade oak for which the flame spreads the entire length of the specimen in S A min. The specimen may consist of sections joined together. 

---

ASTM E 84 Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials. Annual Book of Standards, Vol. 04.07, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA. 

ASTM E 84 Standard Test Method for Surface Burning Characteristics of Building Materials ASTM E 108 Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Roof Coverings ASTM E 119 Standard Test Methods for Fire Tests of Building Construction and Materials ASTM E 136 Standard Test Method for Behavior of Materials in a Vertical Tube Furnace at 750°C ASTM E 162 Standard Test Method for Surface Flammability of Materials Using a Radiant Heat Energy Source... 

---