Effect of Melting Behaviour on Upward Flame Spread of Thermoplastics

Zhang, J.; Shields, T. J.; Silcock, G. W. H.

doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1018(199701)21:1<1::aid-fam583>3.3.co;2-g

Cited by 27 publications

(48 citation statements)

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“…The melting and dripping phenomena have been recognized as important factors affecting the fire dynamics of thermoplastics . On the one hand, the flowing of un‐ignited polymer melt removes fuel and heat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a pendant experiment using melt indexer for correlation with the large‐size dripping in the UL‐94 test

et al. 2018

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Summary The dripping phenomena affect fire hazards significantly. In the UL‐94 test, the dripping has been classified into the small‐size dripping due to surface melting and the large‐size dripping originating from bulk softening. Both types of dripping result from the gravity resisted by the forces including the viscous force. Based on the mechanical mechanism, a pendant experiment to reflect the ability of polymer melt to resist the gravity and a simple model equation were developed. The pendant experimental data of 7 polymers verified the model equation, and the regressed model parameter values of activation energy were close to reported data to some extent for most polymers. Correlations between the predicted pendant mass and the dripping behavior featured by the maximum drop mass showed that the pendant mass predicted at the glass transition temperature was proportional to the maximum drop mass. For polymers of large‐size dripping, the pendant mass predicted at typical decomposition temperatures such as the onset decomposition temperature was generally proportional to the maximum drop mass. Moreover, the model equation indicated that for the large‐size dripping the product of drop mass and first dripping time should be proportional to the specimen thickness, which was verified by reported dripping data.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a pendant experiment using melt indexer for correlation with the large‐size dripping in the UL‐94 test

et al. 2018

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“…Zhang et al [3] pointed out that the flowing pool fires induced by molten thermoplastic play a significant role in the fire spread. It is also suggested that the pool fires supply an additional heat source to the upward flame spread.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study on the burning behaviors of three typical thermoplastic materials liquid pool fire with different mass feeding rates

Xie

et al. 2015

J Therm Anal Calorim

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Nowadays, thermoplastic materials, which represent a risk of the high melt flow fire spread, are widely used in construction industry. The flow of thermoplastic's melt drips will accelerate the downward flame spread and fall into the pool fires which appears at the foot of the wall fires. Fire will develop to larger and larger soon because of the wall fires and pool fires mutual enhancement mechanism. In this paper, a new experimental setup is used to quantitatively analyze the burning characteristics of pool fires at different steady mass feeding rates. PP (polypropylene), PE (polyethylene) and PS (polystyrene) thermoplastic polymers are selected as test materials and were heated to be the molten phase by electric heater. N 2 gas is continuously injected into the chamber to avoid a sudden ignition. The characteristics parameters including dripping rate, flowing rate of hot molten liquids, burning rate and radiant flux of flowing pool fires are analyzed. The experiment results preliminarily suggest that the hot molten liquids induced by PP polymers are easier to drop and flow than that by PE and PS. Therefore, PP materials may be more dangerous for their faster pool fires flowing rate on the floor. Meanwhile, the burning rate of pool fires induced by PS is higher than that by PE and PP, although the dripping rate and flowing rate of PS is the slowest for its large viscosity. For larger mass feeding rates, the dripping rate of three hot molten drips becomes faster. It also indicates that the experimental process of surface tension flow and the flame front of pool fires do not coincide with melt flow front for PP and PE at different mass feeding rates. Specifically, the flame front of pool fires induced by molten PP or PE polymers is slower than the forward movement of the hot molten liquids. The reason for these combustion characteristics of molten thermoplastic polymers that mentioned above may be related to viscosity and structures of thermoplastics, as well as the pyrolysis process of different thermoplastics.

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“…Zhang et al [3,4] claimed that the flame spread was eventually controlled by the pool fire formed at the base of a solid polymer. Sherratt and Drysdale [5] confirmed this discovery and reported the importance of flooring material in pool fire development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of ignition condition on typical polymer's melt flow flammability

Wang

et al. 2011

Journal of Hazardous Materials

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Effect of Melting Behaviour on Upward Flame Spread of Thermoplastics

Cited by 27 publications

References 0 publications

Development of a pendant experiment using melt indexer for correlation with the large‐size dripping in the UL‐94 test

Development of a pendant experiment using melt indexer for correlation with the large‐size dripping in the UL‐94 test

Experimental study on the burning behaviors of three typical thermoplastic materials liquid pool fire with different mass feeding rates

Effect of ignition condition on typical polymer's melt flow flammability

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