Heat Release Tests of Mattresses and Bedding Systems

Abstract

In part 1 of this study, a comprehensive full-scale fire test program has been conducted on a wide variety of residential and institutional mattress constructions. Innerspring, solid core, futon and jail pad mattresses were included, along with several styles of foundations. In addition several bedding systems were tested together with a standard set of bedding components to further evaluate the effects and contribution of those items to the combustion of the mattress/foundation combinations. The foremost objective of this work was to gather reliable test data on a wide range of bedding material combinations. It is anticipated that this information will assist bedding manufacturers in developing state-of-the-art materials and in producing bedding products with greatly enhanced fire safety.

Assessment of factors affecting fire performance of mattresses: a review

“…Peak heat release rates for open flame testing of various mattresses with and without foundations are provided in Figure 6. All mattresses used to compare the fire performance of different foundations in this study (Damant & Nurbakhsh 1992) used a similar innerspring construction with different PUF fillings. Based on their construction details and component attributes, Figure 6).…”

“…Damant and Nurbakhsh (Damant & Nurbakhsh 1992) reported on comprehensive full-scale fire tests conducted on both residential and institutional mattress constructions. Mattresses were tested according to the Cal TB 121 (Technical Bulletin 121 Flammability Test Procedure for Mattresses for Use in High Risk Occupancies) standard (Table 1), with the galvanized metal container with 10 double sheets of loosely wadded newspaper replaced by a T-shaped gas burner positioned parallel to the bottom horizontal surface of the mattress.…”

“…Depending on the type of mattress used in the test, woolen blankets demonstrated reduced fire intensities, while acrylic, cotton and polypropylene blankets burned with greater intensities (Woolley 1976). Over the last 20 years there have been two sets of detailed studies by Damant and Nurbakhsh (Damant & Nurbakhsh 1992) and Ohlemiller ) that demonstrate that burning bedclothes on a mattress have the potential to bring a room to flashover. Since both studies were performed before 2007, their conclusions were based on experiments conducted on mattresses that were not compliant with 16 CFR 1633.…”

“…Since both studies were performed before 2007, their conclusions were based on experiments conducted on mattresses that were not compliant with 16 CFR 1633. In three different scenarios using mattresses/foundation sets with and without bedclothes, Damant (Damant & Nurbakhsh 1992) reported that the presence of bedclothes (including a mattress pad, two bed sheets, a bed pillow with pillowcase, and two blankets) caused a 10% to 30% increase in the PHRR (Figure 9). In order to determine the specific contribution of bedclothes towards the fire performance of the bedding assembly with different mattress construction and uniform set of bedclothes, the heat release test data for mattresses was normalized by subtracting the heat release data of bedclothes alone.…”

Fabrication, characterization and flammability testing of carbon nanofiber layer-by-layer coated polyurethane foam

“…The Consumer Products Safety Commission is responsible for existing and proposed United States flammability regulations of soft furnishings [5,6,7], which are based on extensive research and review of the fire behavior of soft furnishings [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. These regulations, as well as the introduction of Reduced Ignition Propensity cigarettes [21], are expected to significantly reduce the $5 billion annual cost of soft furnishing fires.…”