Fire Tests and Flooring Materials.
Fire Tests and Flooring Materials.
(696 K)
Lawson, J. R.
Interscience Communications Limited. Fire and
Materials. International Conference, 2nd. September
23-24, 1993, Arlington, VA, 253-262 pp, 1993.
Keywords:
fire tests; flooring radiant panel test; hazard
assessment; radiant flux profile
Abstract:
It was recognized during the early part of this century
that flooring materials can be a critical player in fire
growth and propagation. This national concern lead to
regulations being written which quantified the behavior
of flooring materials in fire tests. The first attempts
to regulate flooring materials used the existing Stiener
Tunnel, a test for flame spread developed at
Underwriter's Laboratory, and the Pill Test was
developed to identify easily ignited flooring materials.
The Pill Test continues to be used because it is simple
and provides acceptable ignitability information.
Although used initially, the Stiener Tunnel did not
provide the type of fire test data necessary for
evaluating flooring materials in part because the tunnel
was originally designed for testing ceiling and wall
products. It was subsequently replaced by the Flooring
Radiant Panel Test. In this paper, test method
precision for the Flooring Radiant Panel Test is
reviewed from the early days of test development to the
present. It is shown that precision and test
performance has improved over the years and that the
test procedure can be used to quantify the flame
propagation characteristic of critical radiant flux over
a specified range. The performance of flooring products
is discussed as it relates to the influence of aging and
use. The Flooring Radiant Panel Test procedure and
others are discussed as tools for input to computer
models on fire growth and hazard analysis of flooring
materials. The need for further development of the
Flooring Radiant Panel Test is disucssed.
Building and Fire Research Laboratory
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, MD 20899