Investigate Factors for the Reaction of Materials to Fire

Investigate Factors for the Reaction of Materials to Fire

Reaction to fire is an important feature for evaluating the fire performance of materials. Fire protection regulations usually consider the following factors:

• Flame spread

• Burning dripping

• Heat release

• Smoke production: opacity and toxicity

Cone Calorimeter ISO 5660-1

The cone calorimeter is the most important laboratory-scale tester in fire test because it can measure the fire performance of materials under various preset conditions. These measurement data can be used directly by researchers, or they can be input into related mathematical models to predict the development of fire. 

The directly measured characteristics include:

• Heat release rate

• Ignition time

• Critical flux

• Quality loss rate

• Smoke release rate

• Effectively burned calories

• Carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions

Limited Oxygen Index Tester (LOI Limited Oxygen Index)

The purpose of the oxygen index tester is to determine the maximum oxygen content of a material that stops burning within a maximum of 3 minutes. At the same time, the vertical flame spread of the sample cannot exceed 50mm. This test provides useful information for understanding the self-extinguishing ability of materials under specific combustion conditions.

UL 94 Horizontal and Vertical Flame Test Chamber

UL 94 is a testing standard for the flammability of plastics issued by the United States UL. Usually used in the field of electronics and electrical appliances. The classification of this test is not to understand the burning behavior of materials in real disasters, but it is recognized internationally because of its simplicity and ease of operation.

NBS Smoke Density Tester

The smoke test heats the samples submitted for testing in a closed test box. During the test, the optical device monitors the generation of smoke. At the same time, the generated gas is collected and analyzed again in order to calculate the smoke toxicity.