Evaluation of Smoke Risk and Smoke Risk Rating for Combustible Substances from Fire

This study investigated the smoke risk assessment of woods and plastics for construction materials, focusing on the smoke performance index-V (SPI-V), smoke growth index-V (SGI-V), and smoke risk index-VI (SRI-VI) according to a newly designed methodology. Spruce, Lauan, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and polycarbonate (PC) were used for test pieces. Smoke characteristics of the materials were measured using a cone calorimeter (ISO 5660-1) equipment. The smoke performance index-V calculated after the combustion reaction was found to be 1.0 to 3.4 based on PMMA. Smoke risk by smoke performance index-V was increased in the order of PC, Spruce, Lauan and PMMA. Lauan and PMMA showed similar values. The smoke growth index-V was found to be 1.0 to 9.2 based on PMMA. Smoke risk by smoke growth index-V increased in the order of PMMA, PC, Spruce, and Lauan. COpeak production rates of all specimens were measured between 0.0021 to 0.0067 g/s. In conclusion, materials with a low smoke performance index-V and a high smoke growth index-V cause a high smoke risk from fire. Therefore, it is understood that the smoke risk from fire is high. It is collectively summarized by the smoke risk index-VI.