Combustion of mattresses exposed to flaming ignition sources :

Abstract

A test program was conducted to assess the hazards of institutional mattresses when subjected to a sustained flaming ignition source. This report gives results on full-scale room burns of ten different mattress types under several ventilation conditions. Tenability and rapid flame spread potential criteria were applied in a hazard assessment which showed a wide range of behavior among mattresses now being used in institutions. An extensive review of previous fire tests involving mattresses is included.

Assessment of factors affecting fire performance of mattresses: a review

“…Thus, the fuel load of a mattress may not by itself be used to predict its fire performance. Similar finding was also reported by Babrauskas (Babrauskas 1977). For mattresses incorporating Cal TB 117 grade foam (Technical Bulletin 117 2000) or boric acid treated cotton fillings in Figure 7, the type of construction (innerspring or solid core) had a minimal impact on peak heat release values.…”

Upholstered furniture heat release rates measured with a furniture calorimeter

“…The use of some early polychloroprene-based interliners has been studied [5,24]. An extensive testing program in Great Britain resulted in recommendation for the use of cotton cambric as an interliner [25].…”

An assessment of correlations between laboratory and full-scale experiments for the FAA Aircraft Fire Safety Program, Part I :

“…Although the results of Babrauskas [37][38][39] are shown in Figure 6, these were derived from his data not computed by him. He advocates [39] the use of ax» but instead he presented a correlation which attempts to incorporate a fire growth effect for the mattress fire scenario studied [38].…”

“…In some cases these comparisons were explicitly reported in the literature, in other cases they were derived from reported data. The first set of data compared are in terms of homogeneous parameters: Dg or ay* The sources [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] of these data, their fullscale test configurations, the test method used for the material, and a tabulation of the results are given in the Appendix. Six sets of comparisons are plotted in Figure 6.…”

“…Six sets of comparisons are plotted in Figure 6. The range of configurations includes random arrays [34], wall linings [35, 41], mattresses (horizontal and vertical) [36][37][38][39], and small tables [40].…”