SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 28 September 2020
STP162420190086

Relationships between Bench-Scale Measures of After-Flame and Thermal Shrinkage and Fire-Resistant Garment Performance in Fire Manikin Tests

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This research shows that standard bench-scale flammability tests, including ASTM D6413, Standard Test Method for Flame Resistance of Textiles (Vertical Test), do not provide reliable prediction of the after-flame behavior of flame-resistant (FR) coveralls in fire manikin tests. After-flame time, measured on a manikin or in a bench-scale test, does not correlate with garment thermal protective performance, as indicated by predicted manikin skin burns. Because they overestimate thermal shrinkage, bench-scale shrinkage tests do not accurately predict thermal shrinkage in manikin tests. This is a significant finding, because it indicates that reliance on 500°F thermal shrinkage data may lead to misleading comparative assessments of material shrinkage when constrained by a manikin body form. Although they do not accurately measure the extent of thermal shrinkage at the garment level, some small-scale shrinkage measures do correlate with garment shrinkage in manikin tests. Thermal shrinkage measured in the cylindrical TPP tests more strongly correlates with manikin measures of shrinkage than the 500°F oven test. For the FR materials studied, the 500°F oven shrinkage test did not prove to be a useful tool for predicting skin burn protection in fire manikin tests.

Author Information

Barker, Roger, L.
North Carolina State University College of Textiles, Raleigh, NC, US
Ingram, Joshua
North Carolina State University College of Textiles, Raleigh, NC, US
Morton-Aslanis, John
North Carolina State University College of Textiles, Raleigh, NC, US
Deaton, A., Shawn
North Carolina State University College of Textiles, Raleigh, NC, US
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Details
Pages: 1–17
DOI: 10.1520/STP162420190086
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-7695-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-7694-2