Furniture Flammability: An Investigation of the California Bulletin 133 Test. Part 2. Characterization of the Ignition Source and a Comparable Gas Burner.
Furniture Flammability: An Investigation of the
California Bulletin 133 Test. Part 2. Characterization
of the Ignition Source and a Comparable Gas Burner.
(1486 K)
Ohlemiller, T. J.; Villa, K. M.
NISTIR 4348; 42 p. June 1990.
Available from:
National Technical Information Service
Order number: PB90-257692
Keywords:
furniture; flaming combustion; flammability; ignition;
test methods; chairs; ignition source
Abstract:
The California Bulletin 133 upholstery ignition source
is based on the use of crumpled newsprint. The present
work examined the reproducibility of several aspects of
this source when placed on an inert chair mock-up. The
tendency of this source to heat the side arms of a
chair, the area of the seat back subjected to high heat
fluxes, the peak flux there and the flux duration all
showed substantial variability. For inherently lesser
variability a gas burner is preferred. A gas burner,
derived from that developed at the British Fire Research
Station, was shaped so as to deposit a similar pattern
of heat to that of the CB 133 source. The two sources
were tested for comparability both on chair mock-ups and
on full-scale chairs made from a wide variety of
materials. The results indicate that the gas burner, as
used here, is a somewhat less severe ignition source
than is the CB 133 igniter.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899