An approximate integral model for the burning rate of a thermoplastic‐like material

Abstract An approximate integral model is formulated and solved to describe the pyrolysis or burning rate of a thermoplastic‐like material. A constant temperature gasification process is assumed to occur at the solid–atmosphere interface. The preheating ignition problem is also solved by a matching integral method. The ignition problem leads to a solution involving a non‐linear algebraic equation, but the gasification problem yields an exact solution provided the convective heat transfer coefficient is unaffected by the fuel mass loss or blowing effect. The results are compared to numerical solution in the literature and show good agreement. Comparisons with experimental data for PMMA are limited.