Citation

Hirschler MM. J. Fire Sci. 1991; 9(3): 183-222.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1991, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In the first section of this paper smoke obscuration measurement tests are being classified according to the type of equipment used (static or dynamic), the scale and the other properties measured. The conclusion of this section is that the most adequate means to measure smoke obscuration, so as to have results useful for fire hazard assessment, is by determining a combination of heat release and smoke release, e.g., with the cone or OSU calorimeter. In view of this conclusion the other sections of this paper deal with measurements done in the cone calorimeter, found to be one of the best tools. The second section of this paper discusses a few examples of cases where the cone calorimeter (and in particular the smoke factor) was used to predict adequately the fire and smoke performance of products, e.g., cables and upholstered furniture and its possible correlations with other fire tests. The third section of this paper presents data and puts into perspective the heat and smoke release from a total of 35 materials, all but one of them plastics (the exception being a wood sample), with the cone calorimeter, at three incident heat fluxes: 20, 40 and 70 kW/m2. The materials tested cover a wide range of materials and are representative of commercial materials available in the 1990s and cover a very wide range in fire performance. The peak heat release rates range from values within the experimental error range of the equipment to values of almost 3000 kW/m2. Those materials with the best fire performance tend also to have low smoke release. The final, short section of this paper discusses the importance of testing products (or combinations of materials) rather than materials alone, in order to get optimal predictions of real fire performance.