Ignition Properties of Fabrics

ASTM E2058 (NFPA 287) Fire Propagation apparatus was used to determine the Critical Heat Flux (CHF) and Thermal Response Parameter (TRP _thin ) of 10 fabrics by measuring time to ignition at different heat flux values. CHF values were in the range 15–25 kW/m ² and decreased with fabric areal density and cation content. TRP _thin values expressed as areal density heat capacity ignition temperature above ambient were in the range 500–2439kW-s/m ² . There was a reasonable correlation between the measured TRP _thin values and the areal density of the fabrics examined in this study. Light areal density fabrics with low TRP _thin values (≤ 1000 kW-s/m ² ) had high ignitions with the fast smoldering cigarette, while heavy areal density fabrics (≥ 1200 kW-s/m ² ) had high ignitions with the slow smoldering cigarette.