Burning behaviour

Over the years a very large number of tests have been developed to try and assess the burning behaviour of polymers, this in itself being a reflection of the difficulty of assessing the phenomenon. These tests can roughly be divided into two groups ... 

The generally very good electrical insulation properties coupled with heat resistance and non-burning behaviour indicate usage in coil bobbins, printed circuit boards (which resist heat of soldering), lamp bulb bases and TV... 

Withdrawn) 1993 Methods of testing plastics. Method 140B Determination of the burning behaviour of flexible vertical specimens m contact with a small-flame ignition source. Withdrawn, superseded by BS EN ISO 9773 1999... 

The pass/fail criteria of BS 5852 Part 2 have been altered for certain materials to exclude clauses limiting the extent of penetration of flaming or smouldering combustion. A maximum mass loss criteria is introduced for PU foam and is essentially a means of distinguishing between combustion modified and other types of PU foam. In practice, combustion modified PU foam is likely to improve the burning behaviour of upholstered furniture. Although it is arguable that the... 

Nordtest No. 410-83, Upholstered Furniture Burning Behaviour - full Scale Test... 

K.T. Paul, D.A. King, The Burning Behaviour of Domestic Upholstered Chains Containing Different Types of Polyurethane Foam. 

ISO 4589-1 1996 Plastics - Determination of burning behaviour by oxygen index - Part 1 Guidance... 

Eiselle, S., and Menke, K. (2001) About the burning behaviour and other properties of smoke reduced composite propellants based on AP/CL-20/GAP. Proc. 32nd Inti. Ann. Conf. of ICT, Karlsruhe, Germany, July 03-06, pp. 149/1-149/18. 

Physical testing of rubbers is the concern of PRI/22 which has a panel to deal with electrical tests. Until recently, there were 4 other active panels to split the detailed work on test methods but, as a result of the drive to economise effort and the effects of virtually all test methods coming from ISO, they were disbanded. Other committees which should be mentioned in the context of testing are PRI/71 which deals with flexible cellular materials, PRI/20 for accuracy of test machines, PRI 26 for burning behaviour of plastics and rubber and PRI/23 for chemical testing. Unfortunately, systems are never as simple as we would like specialised tests may be considered in product committees and not all products containing rubber are covered in PRI committees... 

For a number of materials the burning behaviour can be improved by the addition of bromine- or antimony compounds, mostly, however, at the cost of some mechanical or electrical properties. 

Kandola, B.K., Horrocks, A.R., Myler, P., and Blair, D. 2002. The effect of intumescents on the burning behaviour of polyester-resin-containing composites. Composites, Part A Appl. Sci. Manufacturing 33A(6) 805-817. 

S. Padbury, B.K. Kandola, and A.R. Horrocks, The effect of phosphorus-containing flame retardants and nanoclay on the burning behaviour of PA 6 and PA 6.6, Proceedings of the 14th BCC Conference on Flame Retardancy, M. Lewin (Ed.), Business Communications Co Editions, Norwalk, CT, 2003. 

Wharton RK. The effect of sample size on the burning behaviour of thermoplastic materials in the critical oxygen index test. Fire Mater. 1981 5 73-76. 

ISO 3795, Road Vehicles, and Tractors and Machinery for Agriculture and Forestry—Determination of Burning Behaviour of Interior Materials, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland. 

Kandola, B. K., Horrocks, A. R., and Rashid, M. R. Effect of reinforcing element on burning behaviour of fibre—Reinforced epoxy composites, Proceedings of 17th Annual BCC Conference on Flame Retardancy, Stamford, CT, May 22-24, 2006. 

Horrocks A.R., Tunc, M., and Price, D. 1989. The burning behaviour of textiles and its assessment by oxygen-index methods, Textile Progress, 18(1/2/3) 1-186. 

EN 1103. Textiles Burning Behaviour Fabrics for Apparel Detailed Procedure to Determine the Burning Behaviour of Fabrics for Apparel. European Committee for Standardization Brussels, Belgium, 1995. 

Price, D. Liu, Y. Milnes, GJ. et al. Burning behaviour of foam/cotton fabric combinations in the cone calorimeter. Polym. Degrad. Stab. 2002, 77, 213-220. 

ISO/DIS 1210.2 Plastics - Determination of the Burning Behaviour of Horizontal and Vertical Specimens in Contact with a Small-Flame Ignition Source... 

This Draft International Standard, circulated in May 1990, specifies a small-scale laboratory screening procedure for comparing the relative burning behaviour of vertically or horizontally oriented plastic specimens exposed to a low-energy ignition. It covers rigid solid or cellular plastics having an apparent density of not less than 250 kg/m, determined in accordance with ISO 845. 

The aim of this test is to characterize the burning behaviour of a solid in a settled-down state. It is one of the oldest techniques used in chemical hazard assessment and is a well-established part of all standard test procedures to be found in companies belonging to the chemical industry. 

Approximately 15 ml of a dried sample are piled up conically on a ceramic plate covering roughly 4 cm in length and 2 cm in width. An electrically heated, glowing red platinum wire is brought into contact with the sample and the burning behaviour is observed (c.f. Figure 3-13). 

ISO TR10840 [8] is entitled Plastics—Burning behaviour Guidance for development and use of fire tests, and is self explanatory. The report itself contains a brief introduction to fire, an outline of the various types of fire test, and a list of the various ISO and lEC tests. The design of fire tests, aspects of fire hazard assessment, and specific problems associated with the fire testing of plastics are briefly discussed. 

ISO TRI0840 (1995). Plastics—Burning Behaviour- Guidance for development and use of fire tests. 

ISO DIS 11907 7 (draft). Plastics burning behaviour. Determination of the corrosivity of fire effluents. Part 7. Dynamic test. 

Nord test NT Fire 032, Upholstered furniture burning behaviour. Full scale test. 

ISO 3795 Road vehicles determination of burning behaviour of interior... 

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