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ABDOOO19024 ft TECHNICAL INFORMATION Fire Properties of Polyvinyl Chloride Figure 1 Ignition Temperatures Temperature, Ce -700 -500 -300 -too ,PVDC Phenolic Glass Fiber Melamine Glass Fiber Nylon ',PVC Polystyrene (Foam): ' Polyethylene ;san , Polyurethane .Cellulose Acetate Polystyrene (Beads) ` PMMA Douglas Fir 'Cotton 'Pine ' Paper 'Wool - Cellulose Nitrate . Melamine Glass Fiber . Phenolic Glass Fiber ,PVDC ,PTFE .Polystyrene .SAN Cellulose Acetate PMMA PVC Nylon Polyurethane Polyethylene Pine Cotton Paper Cellulose Nitrate Flash Ignition Self Ignition Polyvinyl chloride (PVC, or vinyl) pos sesses excellent fire performance proper ties In particular, it will not bum once the source of heat or flame is removed This results from PVC having 56 8% chlorine in its base polymer weight It is well known that chlorine is one of the few elements that confers good fire properties to a polymer1 2 Samples of unplasticized (rigid) vinyl, such as those found in pipe, siding or ver tical blinds, have higher ignition tempera ture, lower flame spread and lower heat released in a fire than similar samples of wood When PVC is plasticized to make it into flexible products such as wire coat ings, upholstery, medical blood bags or wall coverings, the fire properties become less favorable, depending on the amount and kind of plasticizer and other additives used However, most plasticized PVC products in use will not continue to bum once the flame source is removed, even if not additionally fire-retarded The actual fire properties of PVC have been calculated from the results of smallscale and full-scale tests, and interpreted in terms of overall fire hazard FIRE HAZARD The fire hazard of a product is deter mined by a combination of factors includ ing its ignitability and flammability, the amount of heat released from it when it bums, the rate at which this heat is re leased, the flame spread, the smoke pro duction and the toxicity of the smoke Ignitability If a material does not ignite, it will not contnbute to fire hazard and therebv can not endanger lives Most organic materials do, however, ignite and the lower the igni tion temperature, the greater the hazard Figure 1 presents the self-ignition and flash-ignition temperatures of a variety of common materials, as measured by a stan dard test (ASTM D1929) With a flash ignition temperature of 346C, PVC is among the least easily ignited polymers Flammability Once ignited, the greater the flammabil ity of a material, the greater the hazard associated with it One of the most reliable quantitative small-scale flammability tests is the limited oxygen index test (LOI, ASTM D2863), which gives the limiting concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere necessary for sustained combustion In general, a material with LOI of more than 21 should not bum in air at room tempera ture, and, one with LOI of more than 25-27 will only bum under extreme condi tions Table 1 shows that very few com mon materials have an LOI higher than PVC When PVC is plasticized in order to achieve flexibility, its LOI is lower than that of rigid PVC, the exact value will de pend on the formulation Phthalate plasti cizer affects the LOI of PVC as shown in Figure 2 Because typical wire and cable compounds contain only 15-35 percent plasticizer, most will not bum in air unless a source of heat or flame is applied Flame Spread The tendency of a matenal to spread flame can be measured using the radiant panel test, ASTM E162 Results from this test (Table 2) show that PVC is one of the materials with the lowest flame spread rating, it will not spread flame on its own The Vinyl Institute A Division ct Tn= See,57 a "13 Plashes Industry, Inc V/ayne `ntarchange Plaza II 155 Feu 3 ~6 V-'es: V/av'e 'lev/ Jersey 07*70 (201) 350 9255 ABDOOO19025 Table I2'4 Limiting Oxygen Indices of Various Materials Material Polyacetal Polyoxymethylene Cotton Natural rubber PMMA Polyethylene Polypropylene Polystyrene Polyacrylonitrile SAN ABS Rayon Cellulose PET PVF Nylon 6,6 Wool Polycarbonate Neoprene rubber Modacrylic Nomex Polysulphone Leather (FR) Polyimide PVDF PVC'(rigid) Carbon black rod PVDC Chlorinated PVC PTFE LOI 14 9 15 7 16-17 17 2 17 4 17 4 17 4 17 6-18 3 18 0 18 0 18 3-18 8 18 7-189 19 0 20 0 22 6 24-29 25 2 26-28 26 3 26 8 28 5 30-32 34 8 36 5 43 7 45-49 59-63 60 0 60-70 95 0 Note The fire performance for this test improves as the LOI becomes higher Heat Release A burning object will spread a fire to nearby products only if it gives off enough heat to ignite them Moreover, the heat has to be released fast enough not to be dissi pated or lost while traveling through the cold air surrounding anything not on fire Therefore, the most important flamma bility property, in terms of fire hazard is the heat released Figures 3 and 4 present normalized results for total heat released and maximum rate of heat released for a variety of materials, as measured by an Ohio State University rate of heat release calorimeter (OSU-RHR, ASTM E906) 6 They show that most materials are more prone to ignite other products than PVC Smoke The amount of smoke that materials produce when they bum also is important because smoke obscures light and hinders escape from a fire The most common method for measur ing smoke from burning products is the U S National Bureau of Standards (NBS) smoke chamber in the vertical mode (ASTM E662), and results from it are shown in Figure 5 This test is now known, however, to be senously flawed the principal deficiencies identified are shown in Table 3 The most important of the problems with the NBS smoke cham ber is that its results misrepresent the smoke found in real fires One example of this is the effect of sample orientation Some materials melt or drip when exposed to flame When samples of such materials are exposed ver tically in the NBS smoke chamber test, the molten portions will have escaped the effect of the radiant heat source This means that some of the material does not bum during the test If these dripping products are exposed horizontally, the en tire sample will be consumed The test, therefore, measures an amount of smoke artificially lower than what would be formed in a realistic scenario (see Table 4) PVC, however, does not melt or dnp and the test, thus, gives the same smoke production results in the vertical or hori zontal orientations Therefore when the smoke results of other materials are cor rected for the melting effect by changing the onentation, the relative ranking of PVC in terms of smoke production changes In fact, its smoke production fig ures become very similar to those of other materials regarded as low smoke produc ing, such as polyethylene or polypropylene (Table 5) Table 24 Surface flammability of some materials Material Chlorinated PVC Polyether sulphone PVC Polyester FR polystyrene FR polycarbonate Polycarbonate Red oak Phenolic resin Plywood (fir) Hardboard GRP polyester (21%) FR acrylic Polystyrene Acrylic Polyurethane foam (flexible) Polyurethane foam (rigid) Thickness (mm) 3 3 4 3 3 6 3 19 2 6 6 2 3 2 6 Flame spread index 4 5 10 30-56 59 73 88 99 114 143 185 239 316 355 416 1490 2220 Note The fire performance for this test improves as the flame spread ratings become lower ABDOOO19026 A Figure 2s Effect of Plasticizer Content on Limiting Oxygen Index 0 17 30 38 44 Plasticizer (Dloctyl Phttialate) Weight H Figure 4 Maximum Rate of Heat Release (OSU-RHR) -0 Gypsum Board --- :-- PVC (Flexible) Vinyl Asbestos Ttie --i -- Oak-Pine -- Extenor Plywood Polycarbonate------ -1000 -- Polystyrene (FR) Hardboard------ -2000 ----- ABS Polystyrene -- -- Polypropylene -3000 PMMA------ At an Incident Heat Flux of 2 W cm2 (in BTU mm1 ft2) Figure 3 Total Heat Released (OSU-RHR) 0 PTFE-----Wool (Carpet) PVC (Rigid)--= PVC (Flexible) Oak----- -- Particleboard Pine -- -- Polyurethane (Flexible Foam) ABS------ -- Polystyrene -7000 PMMA------- Polypropylene At 10 Mm, per Unit Surface, at the Limiting Incident Heat Flux, per Unit Incident Heat Flux, (in BTU ft 2/W cm *) Figure 5 Maximum Smoke Density Measured In the NBS Chamber (Os) -o PTFE (NF) PTFE (F) Red Oak (F) Polypropylene (F) Pine (F) ABS (NF) Walnut (F) Polyethylene (F) Douglas Fir (F) Nylon (F) Pine (NF) Douglas Fir (NF) - Polypropylene (NF) PVC (NF) - Natural Rubber (NF) Nylon (NF) Polystyrene (NF) Red Oak (NF) -Walnut (NF) Polyethylene (NF) PVC(F) -700 ABS (F) Polystyrene (F) Natural Rubber (F) F = flaming mode, NF * nonflaming mode Even when corrections are made, how ever, the NBS smoke chamber cannot ad dress the fact that fire hazard from smoke depends on how much product bums and how much heat is associated with it This can be done by measuring smoke produc tion from materials using a smoke para meter 8 This is a test, developed by NBS, which measures the amount of smoke pro duced in the form most relevant to fire hazard by combining the light obscuration with the rate of heat released It has been measured4 11 on another, newer rate of heat release instrument the NBS Cone calorimeter (ASTM E5- Proposal P-190) 12 Results from this instrument cor relate with full-scale fires 13'15 Table 6 indicates that standard rigid PVC has a smoke parameter less than one tenth of that of other plastic materials such as polyester, polyethylene, or polypropylene, with low smoke production numbers in the NBS smoke chamber test (Figure 5) Flex ible PVC compounds have higher smoke parameters than rigid ones, due to the effect of the plasticizer Mass Loss In addition to heat and smoke release, fire hazard also depends heavily on the re lease of toxic combustion products into the atmosphere - that is, on the mass loss rate of a material If a product loses mass very rapidly, a hazardous accumulation of dangerous smoke will develop more easily The rate of mass loss for most flame retarded materials is relatively simi lar The other results shown in Table 6 rates of mass loss and of heat release also measured with the NBS Cone cal orimeter, indicate that PVC has both a very low maximum rate of heat release and a low rate of mass loss Toxicity Finally, fire hazard also is associated with the toxicity of the smoke itself Fig ure 6 presents some results on the toxic potency of the smoke of a variety of common materials, as measured by the NBS cup furnace toxicity test,18 and com pares them with the intrinsic toxic potency ot other poisons and toxic gases, as well as with textbook toxicity-categones 19 ABDOOO19027 This figure shows that toxicity is a rela tively minor factor in fire hazard since the intrinsic toxic potency of the smoke of the majority of common materials is very similar, with very few exceptions This is because the most important toxic product in any fire is carbon monoxide (CO), which is produced by all organic materials when they bum Furthermore, there is wide agreement today that small-scale smoke toxicity tests can only show broad toxicity categories and cannot really dis tinguish between most materials This indicates that the toxicity of the smoke of most materials, including PVC, is simply a consequence of the amount of smoke produced The only exceptions are those very few materials which have an exceptionally high toxic potency That is why a low mass loss rate will generally mean a low toxic fire hazard, almost irre spective of the toxic potency of the smoke itself Table 37'10 Deficiencies in the NBS smoke chamber Results do not correlate with full-scale fires Vertical orientation leads to melt and drip Time dependency of results cannot be established No means of weighing sample during test Maximum incident radiant flux is 25 kW/m2 Fire self-extmguishes if oxygen level becomes < 14% Therefore composites often give misleading results Wall losses are significant Soot gets deposited on optics Light source is polychromatic Rational units of m2/kg are not available Table 4 Effect of Orientation on Smoke Density (NBS Chamber)7 (maximum smoke density, flaming mode) Horizontal Polypropylene 398 Polyethylene 286 Nylon 264 Paraffin Wax 228 Vertical 57 35 48 83 HEALTH EFFECTS OF HYDROGEN CHLORIDE The majority of combustion products given off by PVC are the same as those produced by wood or most other common materials, both natural and synthetic 13 The one product given off by PVC that is not given off by natural materials is hydrogen chloride (HC1) Studies have been made on the suscept ibility of different animals to various toxic gases These studies have found that rats are reasonable models for primates as far as incapacitation and exposure dose for post-exposure lethality of irritants (like HCl) is concerned 20'21 The rat is also a good model for asphyxiants such as CO 21'22 On the other hand, the mouse has been shown to be much more sensitive to irritants (particularly HCl) than rats23"25 or baboons 25 Table 7 shows the lethal doses of some of the most important toxic gases present in fires, as measured in those animal species with responses most similar to those of humans - namely, rats and baboons 21 22 26 27 These data show that although the mechanisms ot action of CO and HCl are totally different, their lethal doses are very similar However, HCl has an important feature related to fire hazard a very pungent odor, detectable at a level of less than 1 ppm,28 while CO is odorless and narcotic Therefore, HCl will signal people in a fire atmosphere to escape, while CO will narcotize them Table 7 also shows the highest concen tration of these gases found in two studies involving fire fighters equipped with monitonng devices Interestingly, the peak CO concentration found when they entered burning buildings was higher than that known to cause lethality at 30 minutes Similarly, the peak acrolein concentration found is equivalent, after a 30 minute ex posure, to a dose in the range of the 5 minute lethal dose for baboons On the other hand, the peak HCl concentration tound was less than one tenth of the cor responding 30 minute lethal value This data supports, dgain, the observation that CO is the pnme toxic hazard in a fire ABDOOO19028 Table 5 Smoke Density (NBS Chamber) Corrected tor Melting Effect7 Polystyrene Polypropylene PVC Polyethylene Paraffin wax maximum optical density (cm2/g) 14,300 5,250 3,400 2 900 2,300 Table 641117 Heat, Smoke and Mass Release Parameters from NBS Cone RHR Calorimeter (Horizontal exposure3) Material 1 Polycarbonate 2 Aircraft panel0 a 3 Low smoke rigid PVC 4 PVC 5 Low smoke FR PVC wire cpd 6 Carpet0 7 PVC (extrusion) 8 Rigid PU foam0 0 9 Particle Board0 c 10 PPO/PS with fiberglass 11 Standard PVC wire cpd 12 FRABS 13 PPO/Polystyrene alloy 14 FR Polystyrene 15 FR ABS (with PVC) 16 FR polyurethane TPU 17 PMMAbc 18 Flexible PU foam0 d 19 ABS 20 Polystyrene 21 EPDM/SAN 22 Polyester 23 Polyethylene 24 Polypropylene Maximum Rate Heat Release kW/m2 22 40 89 91 92 100 115 160 180 184 204 250 263 315 445 509 650 650 746 859 883 1216 1325 1335 Average Specific Extinction Area at 5 mm m2/kg 0 47 380 159 340 - 303 1099 1874 1561 1747 1312 606 - - 863 1027 1016 460 337 461 Maximum Mass Loss Rate g/(s m2) 50 56 80 13 7 19 3 55 12 7 73 12 6 91 14 0 17 7 11 3 21 5 11 6 12 6 25 0 28 5 24 2 26 5 24 8 59 4 24 7 26 7 aIncident Flux 20 kWlm2 thickness 0 63 cm hl.ncid.en.t Flux 2A5r kmWi /m2 cThickness I 28 cm aTtuckness 2 54 cm Materials 1 6 8 9 17 18 - Reference 17 5,11BFGoodnch compounds others - References 4 11 Lexan 141-111 polycarbonate, composite with phenolic-polyamide honeycomb and tedlar coating low smoke PVC sheet extrusion compound general purpose PVC custom injection moulding compound PVC fire retarded flexible wire compound designed for low smoke, wool-nylon carpet with rubberized backing weatherable PVC extrusion compound GM31 rigid polyurethane foam10, 0 5 inch particle board Noryl GFN-3-70 PPO'PS with fiberglas standard flex ible PVC wire and cable compound (non fire-retarded) Cycolac KJT ABS Noryl N-190 polyphenylene oxide/ polystyrene Huntsman 351 FR polystyrene AES fire* retarded with PVC FR thermoplastic polyurethane 0 5 inch Rohm and Haas black poly (methyl methacrylate) 0 5 inch low density flexible polyurethane foam, Cycolac CTB ABS Huntsman 333 polystyrene Rovel 701 EPDM/SAN copolymer Celanex 2000-2 polyester Marlex HXM 50100 polyethylene Dur o 8938 polypropylene Smoke Parameter kW kg x 10 "5 0 - 0 04 0 35 0 15 0 38 - 1 66 2 23 4 68 4 10 5 50 5 84 3 08 - - 6 44 8 82 8 97 5 59 4 46 6 15 ABDOOO19029 Table 7 Lethal Exposure Doses for Common Gases Gas CO Acrolein HCI HCI HCN LEO ppm mm 192,000 2,500-5,000 112,000-169 000d ca 150,000* 4 800' Animals rats baboons rats baboons rats aOdor detection level b30 mm exposure, within exposure deaths, Reference 27 5 mm exposure, post-exposure deaths. Reference 21 a30-60 mm exposure post-exposure deaths. Reference 20 e5-15 mm exposures, with no deaths. Reference 20 '30 mm exposure within exposure deaths, Reference 26 001* ppm28 - 0 16 0 77 0 77 0 58 Peak in Fire ppm29 30 7 450 98 280 280 9 Table 835 Results of Corner Burn Room Fire Test2 Material Crib only Low smoke rigid PVC Chlorinated PVC Rigid PVC FR Acrylic FRABS Wood (oak) Polycarbonate Temp at door <C) 171 178 169 188 322 748 558 382 Heat generated at 13 minutes (MJ) 32 6 25 6 30 2 31 7 36 6 70 2 89 8 133 7 Peak smoke at door (0D/m)b 16 46 15 83 >15 1 >15 1 96 >15 1 aA 6 3 kg wood crib was used in atl experiments bQD/m optical density per meter cDm maximum smoke density Smoke yield (9) 106 187 93 384 398 >900 746 >2500 NBS Smoke Dm* - 94 53 780 435 900 106 247 HYDROGEN CHLORIDE DECAY A series of studies was done to investi gate the ` lifetime" ot HCI in a fire atmos phere 31 14 These studies showed that HCI reacts very rapidly with most common construction surfaces (cement block, ceil ing tile, gypsum board, etc ) Therefore the peak HCI concentration lound in a fire is much lower than would be predicted from the chlorine content of the burning material Moreover, this peak concen tration s<xw decreases and HCI disappe,irs completely from the air Figure 7 shows the HCI concentration-time pattern for several identical expenments where P\ C wire insulation (containing the chlorine equivalent of 8,700 ppm of HC1) was elec trically decomposed in the presence of sorptive surfaces The peak concentration of HCI found m this simulated plenum was only 10% of the theoretical concentration One of the consequences of these studies is that toxicity tests earned out in glass or plastic exposure chambers may exaggerate the toxicity ot PVC smoke On these surfaces, HCI does not decay as fast as on real-use surfaces, so that toxic gases are present longer than in real fires PVC PERFORMANCE IN LARGE SCALE TESTS It is probably of much greater impor tance to understand how PVC behaves in a real full-scale fire than to understand the results of small-scale tests, some of which are of questionable validity A senes of tests was conducted in which a comer. floor to ceiling, was paneled with different materials including wood and rigid PVC Table 8 shows that the PVC panels added nothing whatsoever to the total heat gener ated and next to nothing to the temperature measured at the door ot the room, as compared to the ignition source itself (a wood crib) 3 The smoke emitted by the burning PVC caused the room to become somewhat darker than when the cnb burned alone, however, the darkness was much less than that generated when the wood panels were burned The wood also gave off a very considerable amount ot additional heat, much hotter temperatures at the door and a large mass of smoke particulates Other materials with the ex ception ot chlorinated PVC (CPVC) simi larly generated much more smoke and heat than the PVC panels It is also interesting to note that the smoke yield in the full-scale tests did not correlate with that in the NBS smoke chamber The reason for this lack of cor relation is that the laigest smoke yield in the NBS smoke chamber was given by those materials burning least extensively in the large-scale test ABDOOO19030 Figure 6 Toxic Potency (Lethal Dose) of Substances and of Smoke (LDM in mg/kg) -100,000 Non Toxic -10,000 . SlIgWIyToxici.r^ Moderately -1,000 ToK,c Eanrt(16,000)?r- Ethylbenzene (6,250) Naphthalene (2,500) _ m } ;; . C02 (1 400) CFCII (940) \ i- -loo; y*??' ,, Methanol (425) */_ --- Chloroform (300)v ' Polystyrene IT- Aspirin (250) " 7 Ether`(273) * J 1 '-/`RedOak - ^DDT`(t30) 1 Douglas Rr Extremely -10 Toxle -- Phenobarbital (27) Paraquat (7) ; -- HCI (27) ~^C0(22) = Wool VPVC "\ ABS >r-t ^ ' *\ ' -'Modacrylic. 'y Nicotine (fl ~. "< a. V\vr' * -.A * V V- % - Cocaine (0 5) ^Shcn (6 75). ,3 ''t Sfrychnine'(0 27),, v,_ *\<TDI(0 5). : - PTFE (NF)>` -u .yr:_ ^ Tiger Snake Poison"''' ,r -y (0 048) Supertoxlc Dioxin (0025) : 7\'Acrotein(6'4)' , - A' ' ! i "^,vPhosgene(017) ' k y v*: v' ' - - , ?,4i -001 ~ ,-,j a . * ST'.-"-"!* - 1 "^ Beaked Sea Snaked ; . Poison (0 0t2) ^ , ;rA K ,V. -, . , v*V', -0 001 yy ;iV i ' y* ^ -O,, OA*O* OJI.v - - - l** F** .. y. ^ 1 ~r*BotUlmUS-' -jjoxin (0 0002) - y 'k f:k ,, ^ " y* >* * * li4is, Categories Poisons Gases Smokes Figure 7 Experiments Fitted Values Large-scale experiments have also been earned out to investigate HC1 decay These show that, even if massive amounts of PVC are decomposed in a plenum space above a room, no HC1 filters down into the room below unless driven by an air conditioning system, while other gases do accumulate in the room 31 34 Even with an air conditioning system, the concentra tions in the room were found to be of vir tually no toxicological concern Conse quently, high concentrations of HC1 are unlikely to reach rooms other than that of ongin and unlikely to affect victims in the post-flashover period Two other interesting studies have in vestigated the effects of burning PVC electrical products behind a wall (nonmetalhc tubing)36 or a ceiling (conduit, non-metallic tubing, wire coating)37 It was found, in both cases, that the tempera tures and concentrations of toxic gases in the room would be lethal long before there would be any effect resulting from the combustion of the PVC products SUMMARY 1) The most important cause of fire deaths is CO, produced when all organic mate rials bum 2) PVC is less flammable than most or ganic materials and it will not continue burning unless there is a powerful ex ternal source of heat 3) When PVC eventually bums, it gives off less heat and does so more slowly than most materials 4) The smoke produced by burning PVC is within the same range as that of many other materials 5) The toxicity of PVC combustion prod ucts is comparable to that of most or ganic matenals 6) PVC is unusual in that, when it bums, it releases HC1, which is irritating However, HC1 odor is easily detectable (at less than l ppm) and HC1 does not incapacitate or become dangerous until it reaches concentrations much higher than those measured in real fires 7) HC1 is unique among common fire gases in that it decays by reacting very rapidly with most construction surfaces and consequently, is not transported easily to other rooms ABDOOO19031 REFERENCES 1 C F Cullis and M M Hirschler, 'The Combustion of Organic Polymers " Oxford University Press, Oxford (1981) 2 M M Hirschler, "Developments in Poly mer Degradation," Vol 5, (G Scott, edi tor). Applied Polymer Barking Chapters, p 102 (1982) 3 C J Hilado, "Flammability Handbook of Plastics," 3rd Ed Technomic Publishing Lancaster, PA (1982) 4 M M Hirschler Journal of Fire Sciences 5, 289 (1987) 5 J M Avento and l Touval, Flame Re tardants (Antimony),' Kirk-Othmer Ency clopedia of Chemical Technology, Vol 10 3rd Ed , Wiley (1980) 6 E E Smith, Ignition, Heat Release and Noncombustibility of Materials, ASTM STP 502," (A F Robertson, editor), p 119, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia (1972) 7 LH Breden and M Meistere, Journal of Fire and Flammability, 7, 234 (1976) 8 V Babrauskas, Journal of Fire and Flam mability 12, 51 (1981) 9 J G Quintiere, Fire and Materials, 6, 145 (1982) 10 V Babrauskas, SPE RETEC conference on PVC THE ISSUES, Atlantic City, p 41 (1987) 11 G F Smith, SPE RETEC conference on PVC THE ISSUES," Atlantic City p 124(1987) 12 V Babrauskas, "Development of the Cone CaJonmeter A Bencb-ScaJe Heat Release Rate Apparatus Based on Oxygen Con sumption " National Bureau of Standards, NBSIR 82-2611 (1982) 13 V Babrauskas, "Bench-Scale Methods for Prediction of Full-Scale Fire Behavior of Furnishings and Wall Linings," Society ot Fire Protection Engineers, Boston, Tech nology Report 84-10 (1984) 14 V Babrauskas, Journal of Fire Sciences 2, 5 (1984) 15 V Babrauskas and J F Krasny, "Fire Safety Science and Engineering ASTM STP 882" (TZ Harmathy, editor), p 268 American Society for Testing and Mate rials, Philadelphia (1985) 16 M M Hirschler and G F Smith, "Fire Safety Progress in Regulations, Technology and New Products," Fire Retardant Chemi cals Assoc Fall Conference Oct 18-21 Monterey. CA, p 133 (1987) 17 WD Walton and W H Twilley Heat Re lease and Mass Loss Rate Measurements for Selected Materials, National Bureau of Standards NBSIR 84-2960 (1984) 18 BC Levin, A J Powell, M M Birkv M Paabo, A Stolte and D Malek ` Further Development of a Test Method for the Assessment of the Acute Inhalation Toxic ity of Combustion Products, National Bureau of Standards NBSIR 82-2532 (1982) 19 LJ Casarett, "Toxicology-The Basic Science of Poisons, ' (L Casarett and J Doull, editors), Macmillan, New York p 24,(1975) 20 G E Hartzell, S C Packham, A F Grand and W G Switzer, Journal of Fire Sciences 3, 195 (1985) 21 HL Kaplan, A F Grand, WG Switzer D S Mitchell, W R Rogers and G E Hartzell, Journal of Fire Sciences 3 228 (1985) 22 H L Kaplan and G E Hartzell, Journal ot Fire Sciences 2, 286 (1984) 23 K I Darmer, E R Kinkead and L C DiPasquale, Journal of the American In dustrial Hygienists Association 35 623 (1974) 24 H L Kaplan, R K Hinderer and A Anzueto Journal ot Fire Sciences 5 149 (1987) 25 H L Kaplan, MM Hirschler, WG Switzer and A W Coaker, proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Fire Safety (C J HiJado, editor). Product Safety Corp , San Francisco p 279 (1988) 26 V Babrauskas, B C Levin and R G Gann Fire Journal, 8/(2) 22 (1987) 27 G E Hartzell, A F Grand and WG Switzer Journal of Fire Sciences 6 368 (1987) 28 J E Amoore and E Hautala Journal of Applied Toxicology 3, 272 (1983) 29 W A Burgess, R D Treuman and A Gold, ` Air Contaminants in Structural Firefighting, ' N FPC A Project 7X008 Harvard School of Public Health (1979) 30 A F Grand, H L Kaplan and G H Lee "Investigation ot Combustion Atmospheres in Real Fires " U S FA Project 80027 Southwest Research Institute (1981) 31 JJ Beitel, C A Bertelo W F Carroll R A Gardner, A F Grand, M M Hirschler and G F Smith Journal ot Fire Sciences 4 15 (1986) 32 C A Bertelo, W F Carroll M M Hirsch ler and G F Smith Fire Safety Science proceedings of the 1st International Sym posium (C E Grant and PJ Pagni edi tors), p 1079, Hemisphere Washington (1986) 33 J J Beitel, C A Bertelo W F Carroll A F Grand, M M Hirschlerand G F Smith, Journal of Fire Sciences 5 105 (1987) 34 FM Galloway and M M Hirschler "Mathematical Modeling of Fires ASTM STP 983" (J R Mehaffey, editor) Amencan Society for Testing and Mate rials, Philadelphia p 35 (1987) 35 G F Smith and E D Dickens, proceedings ot the 8th Internationa) Conference on Fire Society (C J Hilado, editor), Product Safety, p 227, San Francisco (1983) 36 I A Benjamin, Journal ot Fire Sciences 5, 25 (1987) 37 M M Hirschler, Journal of Fire Sciences 6, (1988) This report has been prepared by the Technical Committee of the Vinyl Institute as a service to us members and their customers and is based on litera lure and information believed to be accurate No warranty or guaranty expressed or implied is made tor the accuracy or completeness ot the mtormation provided herein and neither the Vmvl Insti tute nor its members or contributors assume anv responsibility for the accuracy or completeness ot the information contained m this document Figures 1 3 4, 5 6 and 7 reprinted with the per mission of the Journal ot Fire Sciences 1987 Technomic Publishing, Lancaster, PA USA S1988 The \ inyl Institute