Testing of Fire Fighting Foam.

Abstract

The effectiveness of commercially available, non alcohol, fire fighting foams is determined by using four published test methods. These methods are compared to evaluate the required foam characteristics, which include resistance to breakdown when in contact with hot surfaces, ability to control and extinguish fuel fires, sealability of the foam blanket, burnback resistance to contain reignited openings, and compatibility with fresh and salt water. The influence of gasoline and n-heptane as test fuels was studied. The test methods used are: Fire Research Note No. 1007 (FRN1007), by S.P. Benson, P.R. Bevan and J.G. Lorrie; Military Specification for Six-Percent Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) Fire Extinguishing Agent for Fresh and Sea Water (MIL-F-24385); Underwriters Laboratories Inc. Standard for Air Foam Equipment and Liquid Concentrates (UL162); and Federal Specification for Mechanical Fire Extinguishing Foam Liquid (O-F-555C). To minimize the effects of ambient conditions, all tests are indoor-tests. In general AFFF foams had the best control and extinguishment times. Protein and fluoroprotein foam had the best burnback resistance. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 1980
Accession Number
ADA108097

Entities

People

  • Miles R. Suchomel
  • William M. Carey

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Coast Guard
  • Combustion
  • Containers
  • Fire Fighting
  • Fires
  • Fresh Water
  • Gases
  • Ignition
  • Liquids
  • Materials
  • Physical Properties
  • Plastic Explosives
  • Sea Water
  • Standards
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Test Facilities
  • Test Methods

Readers

  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.
  • Petroleum Engineering