Smoke extinction area , polymer

Pig. 22. Smoke extinction area (SEA) versus flaming combustion efliciency (x) for 40 polymers. 

Smoke. The smoke extinction area (SEA m /kg) is a global measure of the condensed phase (liquid and solid) products of flaming combustion having units of square meters of particulate scattering surface per kilogram of material burned. The SEA is measured in a fire calorimeter under well-ventilated conditions from optical extinction of the combustion gas stream (25). Table 15 lists the specific SEA for a variety of polymers averaged from the literature. Figure 22 is a plot... 

The production of a char barrier must serve to retain some of the polymer and thus both the energy released and the mass loss rate decrease. The amount of smoke evolved, and specific extinction area, also decreases with the formation of the nanocomposite. There is some variability in the smoke production but apparently the formation of the nanocomposite gives a reduction in smoke however, the presence of additional clay does not decrease smoke. 

---