Effects of Interliners on the Ignitability of Upholstered Furniture

Eight different multiple-layer interliners were tested in combination with five different cover fabrics and two different filling materials according to standard method BS 5852:part 1: Fire test for furniture. The interliners were composed of materials commonly used as interliner materials in upholstered furniture in Norway. The filling materials were standard polyurethane foam and high-resilient foam (cold cure). It was found that these interliners did not cause any significant change in the ignitability of a mock-up chair compared with the ignitability of similar combinations of fabrics and filling materials without interliners. When a cigarette was the ignition source, use of HR foam as filling material often caused a reduction in ignitability, seen in relation to similar combinations composed of interliners and standard foam. The cover fabric seems to make the greatest contribution to the ignitability of upholstered furniture when a flame is used as ignition source. Parameters such as production of smoke and other toxic gases were not considered in this study.