Performance and failure mechanism of fire barriers in <scp>full‐scale</scp> chair mock‐ups

Thompson, Andre L.; Kim, Ickchan; Hamins, Anthony P.; Bundy, Matthew F.; Zammarano, Mauro

doi:10.1002/fam.3007

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Unless otherwise indicated, all materials were used as-received. Materials were detailed in previous publications [25,27]. Briefly, the flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) was compliant with requirements for the standard foam specified in California TB-117 2013 [4].…”

Section: Scope and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A detailed description of the chair mock-up preparation and test procedure was previously reported [25]. Briefly, the chair mock-ups were composed of four cushions: a seat cushion, a back cushion, and two armrest cushions.…”

Section: Full-scale Chair Mock-upsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the context of RUF, fire barriers (referred to as "barriers" in the remainder of this work) are usually fabrics placed between the padding materials, like flexible polyurethane foam (FPUF) or polyester fiber fill, and the cover fabric. Barriers have been shown to mitigate the RUF fire hazard by reducing the fire growth and limiting the fire size [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Based on their mechanisms of action, barriers can be classified as "passive" barriers and "active" barriers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The performance of six upholstery materials combinations (including six passive barriers, one cover fabric and one flexible polyurethane foam) was assessed by the Cube test and by fullscale chair mock-up tests [27]. In the full scale test, polyurethane foam and polyester fiber fill were used as the padding materials for the chair mock-ups, and each chair component was fully wrapped with the barrier of choice and a polypropylene cover fabric [25]. The ignition source was an 18 kW square propane burner, impinging on the top surface of the seat cushion for 80 s [41].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Results showed that, depending on the barrier, a reduction between about 22 % and 64 % in peak heat release rate and a delay in time to peak heat release rate between 8 min and 19 min was observed compared to the control chair mock-ups without barrier. It is expected that fire responders would likely be able to intervene before flashover and prevent flashover occurrence with a proper barrier selection [25]; hence, the selection of a proper barrier is critical to the fire performance of RUF and the reduction in RUF fire deaths.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fire performance of upholstery materials :

Zammarano¹

2021

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In our previous work, the fire performance of seven upholstery materials combinations - including six barrier fabrics, one cover fabric and one flexible polyurethane foam - was assessed by (1) full-scale chair mock-up tests and (2) a newly developed bench-scale test, referred to as the Cube test . Herein, we investigate the correlation between the flaming performance observed in the Cube tests and in the full-scale chair mock-ups. Two performance parameters are adopted in the Cube test: (1) time to wetting, tw (i.e., time elapsed between test start and the time at which flammable liquid products become first visible on the bottom surface of the Cube test specimen), and (2) heat release at wetting, HRRw (i.e., value of heat release rate measured at t=tw). Three performance parameters are adopted for full scale chair mock-ups: (1) peak of heat release rate, PHRR, (2) time to PHRR, tPHRR, and (3) average heat release rate measured between test start and the so-called bottom ignition , AHRRBI, where bottom ignition is defined as the appearance of prolonged and localized flaming underneath the chair mock-up. Data analysis revels that there is a strong linear correlation (coefficient of determination R2 > 0.9) between tPHRR and tw, PHRR and tw and AHRRBI and HRRw.

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Section: Scope and Objectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Full-scale Chair Mock-upsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Fire performance of upholstery materials :

Zammarano¹

2021

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Demonstration of an all‐in‐one solution for fire safe upholstery furniture: A benign backcoating for smoldering and flame‐resistant cover fabrics

et al. 2021

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Summary The development of fire prevention and mitigation technologies with a benign toxicological and environmental profile has become of particular interest in the USA due to the recent adoption of state regulations that severely restrict the use of flame retardants in certain products, like residential upholstered furniture (RUF). Herein, the effectiveness of a backcoating technology in RUF is demonstrated. The backcoating is a silicone‐based elastomer, filled with vinyl‐silane modified aluminum‐hydroxide that was applied to the back side of an upholstery fabric to generate a flexible and effective fire barrier. Chair mock‐ups were assembled using either an uncoated cotton fabric (UCF) or a backcoated cotton fabric (BCF) as cover fabric. The fire performance of the chair mock‐ups incorporating the UCF and BCF was compared in an open‐burning calorimeter after exposure to either a flaming ignition source or a smoldering ignition source. In the flaming ignition tests, the chair mock‐ups with BCF showed a reduction in the peak heat release rate and the total heat released by factors of about 6 and 45, respectively, as compared to the chair mock‐ups with UCF. In the smoldering ignition tests, the chair mock‐ups with UCF showed intense smoldering, which eventually transitioned to open flaming, whereas, the BCF chair mock‐ups showed no sign of foam or fabric smoldering. The backcoating also offered a durable fire protection solution, with an abrasion resistance of BCF roughly doubled compared to UCF. Ultimately, the backcoating provided an unusual combination of smoldering and flaming ignition resistance while complying with several recently enacted or pending U.S. state regulations.

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Effects of incident heat flux on heat release rates and temperatures in cone calorimeter tests of polyurethane foam

Ugo‐Okeke,

Torvi

2024

Fire and Materials

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There is great interest in developing methods to predict full‐scale fire performance of mattresses and upholstered furniture for design and regulatory purposes using cone calorimeter and other small‐scale test results. One method used in the past is a model developed during the European Combustion Behavior of Upholstered Furniture (CBUF) project. To support the further development of this model, cone calorimeter tests of polyurethane (PU) foam specimens 5–10 cm thick were conducted using incident heat fluxes between 5 and 35 kW/m2. Temperatures were measured using thermocouples located on the surface and at four depths within 10 cm thick foam specimens to determine the effects of heat flux on heat transfer and foam degradation. Peak and average heat release rate (HRR) values for a particular thickness of foam increased with an increase in heat flux. An increase in heat flux decreased the times to reach the two peaks in the HRR curve, which represent the collapse of foam and burning of liquid products, as well as burning duration. Heat flux had a larger effect on the second HRR peak than the first peak. Significant temperature gradients were initially confined to the top portion of the foam. A surface temperature of 150–200°C was shown to be indicative of the onset of ignition, while a temperature of 150°C at a particular location was indicative of when temperatures began to more rapidly increase at deeper locations within the foam. Infrared video records were also used to examine three‐dimensional burning behavior of the foam.

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Performance and failure mechanism of fire barriers in full‐scale chair mock‐ups

Abstract: The effectiveness and the failure mechanism of fire barriers in a residential upholstered furniture (RUF) were investigated by full-scale flaming tests on upholstered chair mock-ups. Six commercial fire barriers were tested in this study. Fire barriers

Cited by 8 publications

References 54 publications

Fire performance of upholstery materials :

Fire performance of upholstery materials :

Demonstration of an all‐in‐one solution for fire safe upholstery furniture: A benign backcoating for smoldering and flame‐resistant cover fabrics

Effects of incident heat flux on heat release rates and temperatures in cone calorimeter tests of polyurethane foam

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