Polyurethane foam and fire safety

This paper presents a survey of the fire safety of flexible and rigid polyurethane foam. The principal uses of flexible polyurethane foam are in applications where full resiliency is required, namely in upholstery for furniture, mattresses, and filled bed products. A subcategory of this type of application is the use of the foam in transportation seating, including every type of vehicle: automobiles, buses (and school buses), trains (and subways), ships, and aircraft. The fire safety legally required for these various environments covers a broad range, between virtually nothing for private automobiles and the extreme fire safety associated with airplane seats. Polyurethane foam also forms part of construction products, and in this case the foam is generally not applied exposed (since this is almost never allowed) and is often used as part of composite systems. The fire testing is normally conducted in the composite application, with severe restrictions to general uses. Overall, polyurethane foam can be used safely for applications that require adequate fire safety only if it is appropriately fire-retarded or if the correct type of fire barriers (or alternate product design) is used. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.