Flammability and combustion of polymers

Flammability is the ease with which a substance will ignite, causing fire or combustion. Combustion or burning of solid polymers is a complicated process involving physical and chemical phenomena that are only partially understood (Nelson, 2002). It is a sequence of 

The actual process of combustion for organic materials follows roughly six separate stages, as schematically shown in Fig. 26.3 (Zeus Industrial Products, Inc., 2005)  

What happens in broad outline when a material bums is schematically indicated in Fig. 26.4. Fundamentally there are two consecutive chemical processes decomposition and combustion, connected by ignition and thermal feedback. Primarily the material 

To be fire resistant, a material should have a low Qz value and a low A value another possibility is that the material contains elements which, on decomposition, form combustion inhibitors (Cl- and Br-containing polymers). Qz will be low if only small amounts of combustible gases develop in the pyrolysis, for instance, because the material chars considerably and mainly splits off carbon dioxide and water. The residue of pyrolysis or the sum of the residue and the weight of carbon dioxide and water formed by pyrolysis may be used as a rough measure of non-flammability. 

Although the term polymer flammability is widely used, it has no intrinsic scientific meaning it depends on the physical state of the product in which it appears and on the 

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Autian, J. Toxicologic aspects of flammability and combustion of polymers. J. Fire and Flammability, 1, 239 (1970)... 

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