Flammability properties for charring materials

There are various methodologies available for the determination of flammability properties of non-charring polymeric materials (Int. J. Transp. Phenomena 1 (1999) 79; Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Fire Safety Science, 1991, p. 167; Methodology and validation for material flammability properties, Combust. Flame, August 2002, accepted for publication). This paper presents a demonstration, validation and extension of a distinct methodology for obtaining the flammability properties of charring materials. Australian radiata pine was used for the study wherein ignition and pyrolysis characteristics were obtained using a cone calorimeter. The deduced properties were applied for the prediction of ignition and pyrolysis histories of wood. These predictions were compared with the data obtained from the cone calorimeter at different imposed heat fluxes and wood thickness and a close agreement was observed between the theoretical and experimental results. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.