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Most fire victims succumb to smoke inhalation, and fire smoke toxicity from interior materials is increasing with increased use of plastics. Large amounts of hazardous effects of smoke are related to deposition of smoke particles in respiratory tracts, and deposition characteristics are influenced by size distribution of particles. Thus, it is essential to know the size distribution of smoke particles from plastics for hazard analysis of fire smoke. In a recent study, it has been shown that size distributions of smoke particles from PP are different from wood in many aspects. In order to know whether other plastics show the same characteristics as PP, size distributions of smoke particles from four plastic materials (LDPE, PA66, PMMA, and PVC) were measured in real time under each fire type with various temperature and oxygen supply. In this study, smoke particles from different plastics were generated uniformly by using steady-state tube furnace method provided in ISO/TS 19700. Their size distributions were measured by using an electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI). Results of measurements showed that size distributions of smoke particles from these four plastic materials were similar to those from PP in many aspects. However, they were distinctively different from those of wood.

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