SURFACE FLAMMABILITY AS DETERMINED BY THE FPL 8-FOOT TUNNEL METHOD
Abstract
ONE OF THE MORE ACCEPTED METHODS FOR MEASURING THE SURFACE FLAMMBILITY OF MATERIALS IS TO OBSERVE THE FLAME MOVEMENT WHEN THE TEST SPECIMEN IS EXPOSED AS THE UPPER HORIZONTAL SURFACE OF A TUNNEL FURNACE. The large tunnel furnace (ASTM Standard E-84) uses this method, but because of the large size of the furnace and specimen, its use is considered impractical in many instances, especially for research and development purposes. Therefore, a small tunnel furnace to measure flme spread was developed by the U.S. Forest PRODUCTS Laboratory in cooperation with the Housing and Home Finance Agency and ASTM Committee E-5. The resulting 8-foot tunnel furnace uses a specimen 14 inches wide and 8 feet long. The specimen is positioned from the horizontal at an angle of 30 degrees across the short dimension, and 6 degrees along the long dimension, so the test can be performed under natural draft conditions. Heat to induce flaming is supplied by a radiant metal plate below the specimen and by a small ignition flame applied directly against the lower end of the specimen. Order of ranking of the surface flammability of untreated wood producs by the small tunnel is generally the same as by the ASTM E-84 tunnel. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1962
- Accession Number
- AD0290713
Entities
People
- C.c. Peters
- H.w. Eickner
Organizations
- Forest Products Laboratory