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Fire Safety Journal 45 (2010) 238248

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Fire Safety Journal

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Low-cost wool-based re blocking inter-liners for upholstered furniture

P. Martini a, M.J. Spearpoint b,n, P.E. Ingham c
a b c

Aurecon, Christchurch, New Zealand Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, New Zealand Textile Science and Technology Section, AgResearch, Lincoln, New Zealand

a r t i c l e in f o
Article history: Received 19 May 2009 Received in revised form 3 March 2010 Accepted 24 March 2010 Available online 14 April 2010 Keywords: Wool Upholstered furniture Inter-liner Calorimetry

a b s t r a c t
New Zealand is reluctant to implement mandatory re safety regulations for domestic furniture because of the cost/benet even though up to 30% of household deaths and injuries over the past 20 or more years can be attributed to soft furnishings. Work has been carried out to develop a low-cost interliner using re retardant treated wool with altered proportions of different re resistant synthetic bres that may be attractive for voluntary inclusion by manufacturers. Bench- and full-scale tests have been conducted to characterise the re performance of composites of polypropylene upholstery fabric, different inter-liner materials and a polyurethane foam core. Inter-liner blends that reduced the peak rate of heat release, extended the time to peak rate of heat release and reduced other combustion product output were identied. A blend of 75% Zirpro treated re retardant wool and 25% Panox bre was found to be the best candidate material when re performance, cost and practical application were considered. & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Studies [1,2] of New Zealand residential building res from the 1970s until 2000 have determined that a relatively constant percentage of between 20% and 30% of deaths and injuries can be related to res involving bedding and upholstered furniture. Common, untreated or unmodied upholstered furniture exhibits re growth characteristics leading to considerable risk to life and property. Work by Ingham et al. [35] in the late 1970s and early 1980s provided evidence of this risk, while more recent work [2,68] has continued to highlight the fact that New Zealand furniture has not made any progress in terms of re safety. Concerns have been raised many times but moves to introduce mandatory measures have been met with reluctance from those with commercial interests and those organisations which would inherit the responsibility of implementing and enforcing the regulations [9]. Jurisdictions such as the UK and the state of California have introduced mandatory regulations and minimum standards, such as BS 5852 [10] and California Technical Bulletin 117 [11]. Organisations such as the Upholstered Furniture Action Council (UFAC), USA and the Consumer Protection Safety Commission (CPSC), USA have implemented voluntary standards such as Technical Bulletin, TB 116 [12], although not all are in agreement as to which standards should be adopted [13]. However, the difculties of regulating the re safety of New Zealand

Corresponding author. Tel.: + 64 3 364 2237; fax: +64 3 364 2758. E-mail address: michael.spearpoint@canterbury.ac.nz (M.J. Spearpoint).

upholstered furniture can be attributed to the issue of cost. For governing bodies, this is the cost/benet outcome dominated by the increased costs due to regulation, administration and enforcement against the expected numbers of lives and property saved while for manufacturers it is the cost of production, compliance and market competitiveness. The best solution to reducing combustibility of soft furnishings has been a point of debate since the early 1980s [9] because of the expected costs of regulating every component material and the inevitable increased costs of production which will be passed onto the consumer. The alternative of regulating only the most combustible or greatest contributor to the re risk also raises debate because it singles out and disadvantages only selected products and manufacturers. The choice of upholstery fabric and underlying component materials has pronounced effects on the burning characteristics of soft furniture composites [7,14,15]. Protection of the foam component does nothing to reduce the ignition susceptibility and burning of the surface material. In some cases, it may increase the heat release rate (HRR) contribution from the upholstery once ignition has been established. Despite this, the greatest re risk is generally considered to be from the mass bulk of foam lling contained within the furniture. A furniture re may develop from a smouldering ignition source, such as a cigarette, and either remain smouldering or transition into a rapid aming re. Damant [16] suggests that life threatening conditions are not often encountered during the smouldering phase of full-scale cigarette ignition tests, and therefore this work focuses on the aming re scenario. One option available to reduce the risk is the use of a re resistant inter-liner between the upholstery fabric and the foam

0379-7112/$ - see front matter & 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.resaf.2010.03.005

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core. The use of an inter-liner is by no means a new idea as many materials and composites have been used for this purpose; however, the availability and usage of these in domestic furnishings appears to be under-utilised. Published data and studies on inter-liner development are sparse and contribute a very small percentage of the total literature on domestic re safety research. Three likely reasons for this could be: the lack of support for the development of such materials; a shift in focus towards the improvement of the polyurethane foam compounds; and the patenting of re-blocking fabrics for commercial benet. The introduction of intermediate layers of material between the surface upholstery and the resilient polyurethane foam core has been evident since at least the 1970s when the aircraft industry began to introduce higher standards of testing and performance for aircraft seating and xtures. It was recognised that the greatest re load contribution within the passenger cabin was exclusively from the polyurethane exible foams used in the seating assembly. Regulatory requirements were enhanced in 1986 that subsequently required the upholstery/cushion combinations to pass the FAR 25.853(c) kerosene burner test [17]. The easiest solution for compliance was to encapsulate the foam within a durable re blocking fabric, subsequently leading to enhanced popularity and inclusion of inter-liners in aircraft seat design. Some early re barriers to emerge contained a high percentage of wool blended with other bres which, when treated, demonstrated re resistant capabilities above the wools natural re retardant (FR) qualities. Research and development into synthetic bres produced FR bres with improved re resistance, and eventually these began to replace the wool or natural bre portion of FR materials but at a much higher cost of production. The objective of the research described in this paper was to develop a low-cost inter-liner for use in New Zealand domestic furniture by blending FR treated wool and a high temperature resistant bre in a non-woven structure. By combining low-cost FR treated wool with altered proportions of different re resistant synthetic bres, the aim was to identify the best performing bre blend and proportion producing equivalent performance to some existing, more expensive commercial re-blocking fabrics. If successful, the low-cost barrier may make it more attractive for voluntary inclusion into furniture products by New Zealand manufacturers in the absence of mandatory requirements. It was not the aim of this work to create a blocking fabric that would meet a particular test standard, and so the results given here are likely to be applicable to jurisdictions outside of New Zealand.

have to endure a stringent and frequent cleaning process. Consequently the wool bre content for the test samples consisted of mid micron ( $ 25 mm) scoured wool treated with an 6% w/w treatment of K2TiF6 (potassium hexauorotitanate) per kilogramme of wool bre. Zirpro is not the only successful FR treatment for wool available, but it has withstood the test of time because of its simplicity of application, its reliability in re tests, durability and compatibility with other post-treatment processing such as shrink resist, insect-resist and fabric nishes. The reason that the Zirpro treatment was chosen for this work is the result of many years of experience and familiarity of the process at the Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand (now the Textile Science and Technology Section of AgResearch), the relatively simple process of application and the superior intumescent properties of this treatment. This research does not exclusively promote the use of Zirpro above other FR alternatives. Any other treatment which can demonstrate equivalent performance would be acceptable.

2.2. Fire resistant bres For a ame retardant to be effective, it must interrupt the combustion mechanism. The modes of interruption can be broadly described by those given in Table 1. Although the majority of textile related bres associated with heat resistance and ame retardancy have re retardant chemicals applied after the manufacture of the textile, about 20% by mass of textile bres produced can be grouped into the category of synthetic ame or heat resistant specialty bres [19]. The inherent high temperature characteristics of specialty bres can mostly be attributed, but not exclusively limited to, several mechanisms described by modes 2 and 3. These qualities, pertaining to the more successful FR bres, are signicant in a handful of aromatic polymers: aromatic polyamides (also known as aramids), polyamideimides, polybenzoxazoles, polybenzimidazoles, carbonised polyacrylonitrile and melamine based bres. One indication of a materials ability to resist combustion is the measure of its limiting oxygen index (LOI). It is the concentration of oxygen in the test environment needed to sustain combustion of a sample of the material for a denite time or until a specied amount has been consumed. Fibres which do not burn at an LOI of 25 or above are considered to be ame retardant [20]. Many synthetic bres are now
Table 1 Different mechanisms for re retardant action observed in bres (adapted from Horrocks [19]). Modes of interruption Example High heat of fusion and/or degradation and/or dehydration Not usually exploited by ame retardants and more usual in inherently ame and heat resistant bres e.g. aramids. Most phosphorus- and nitrogencontaining ame retardants for cellulose and wool; heavy metal complexes in wool e.g. Zirpro treatment. Hydrated and some char-prompting retardants release water, halogen containing retardants release water. Halogen containing ame retardants, often in combination with antimony oxides.

2. Material selection and development 2.1. Fire retardant wool Wool has a high degree of inherent non-ammability through a combination of ame retardant attributes. Wool has a high ignition temperature due to high moisture regain but suffers from brittleness once charred and this brittleness compromises the protection offered by the char layer to anything behind it. The standard ame retardant treatment for wool has been the Zirpro process [18] developed by the International Wool Secretariat (IWS) in the 1970s. The treatment uses a zirconium or titanium complex which consistently produces an intumescent, robust char boundary layer against the penetration of ame and hot gases. The application of the FR chemical results in absorption into the bre so that the treatment obtains resistance against mechanical wear without the loss of FR qualities. It is effective for up to 50 commercial washes, although as a treatment for the intermediate barrier in domestic furniture it is unlikely it will

1 Removal of heat 2 Increased decomposition temperature

3 Increase in char formation and decrease in ammable volatiles

4 Reduced access to oxygen or ame diffusion 5 Interference with ame chemistry and/or increase fuel ignition temperature

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available which obtain LOI values between 30 and 40 with some exceptional bres having an LOI around 60 [19]. A range of synthetically produced technical bres designed for specic engineering applications was sourced with a demonstrated ability to withstand ame and high temperatures. Most of the bres acquired have been or are currently used in protective clothing applications or applications involving high temperatures and/or aming. An approximate relative cost of each raw bre has been included in Table 2. These estimates are solely for the cost of the bre and do not include processing costs. The pricing of the Zirpro wool component is an approximation based upon the wool price and the treatment cost. Table 2 also gives indicative LOI data which where available from the published literature or manufacturers information.

in the CTU foam than in the other foam types, the maximum HRR ( $ 300 kW/m2) was not signicantly less than the non-treated foams which peaked in the range of 300390 kW/m2. CTU43-180 also maintained a high heat release for a longer period than the three domestic foams and it is questionable whether any re retardant quality existed. The combustion response of true re retardant foam can be seen in the output curve of the aircraft foam, where a substantial reduction in HRR is obtained over the entire test period as a result of the low intensity ame generated. The demonstrated combustibility of the CTU43-180 foam was sufcient to provide a basis for the performance of the inter-liner selections. Because of the available supply of this foam and its negligible re retardant aspect, the foam was used in all further tests. The average effective heat of combustion of three samples of the foam was 24.1 MJ/kg. 2.4. Upholstery fabric The worst performing common upholstery in re involving domestic furniture is expected to be that using 100% polypropylene fabric [19]. This has an LOI of 17.4 [26] and high heat of combustion compared to most other popular covering materials. Hirschler and Shakir [14] found that the covering fabric has the greatest inuence on the re performance of the system, so by including the worst expected performing covering material the samples represented the higher end of the ammability risk spectrum for soft furnishings. A commercially manufactured 100% polypropylene plain weave fabric, with a fabric weight of 260 g/m2 was used throughout.

2.3. Foam The selection of polyurethane foams and suppliers is broad such that no single foam can be considered as being a representative material used in furniture construction. Despite new formulations and variations being continuously introduced, the combustion properties of these foams, excluding the highly specialised formulations like those used in aircraft, fall within a narrow band of values, especially in terms of HRR. It was not the purpose of the research to achieve a predetermined improvement in combustion qualities or to reach predened targets, but to demonstrate that given the same circumstances a simple re barrier can offer an increase in re safety comparable to other accepted products. For these reasons, the foam material needed only have reasonably normal combustion characteristics with respect to other furniture foams. A sufcient quantity of CTU43-180, 43 kg/m3, polyurethane foam sourced from a local supplier was available. The foam was claimed to be of re retardant quality and to be self extinguishing in terms of BS 4735 [25], a horizontal burning test for small cellular plastic/rubber specimens subject to a 60 s ame application time. An HRR comparison between CTU43-180 against other commonly available polyurethane foams is shown in Fig. 1. The tests were conducted in the cone calorimeter at an irradiance level of 50 kW/m2 and curves are an average of three samples of each type. The majority of re retardant foams are designed to delay the onset of ignition. The CTU foam did demonstrate this feature to a certain degree, but in comparison to the other common foams it was not overly convincing. The CTU foam had an average ignition time of 40 s, while the domestic untreated 25 kg/m3 foam had an average ignition time of 38 s. The important characteristics to consider after ignition are the HRR and total energy available and it would appear that the CTU foam did not exhibit any signicant advantage. Although peak HRR occurs about 50 s later

Fig. 1. Bench-scale heat release rate comparison of different polyurethane foam types.

Table 2 Identication, LOI data and approximate relative cost per kilogram of raw material of bres examined in the research. Type Wool Zirpro wool FR Viscose Basol Panox Kermel Tech Kermel P84 Gral LOI 25 [19] 2728 (Zirconium); 3132 (titanium) [21] 28 [20] 3032 [22] 4560 [22], 55 [20] 32 [23] 3032 [20,22,23] 38 [22] 440 [24] Relative cost 1.0 1.5 3.7 3.7 5.5 7.0 9.7 10.5 13.3

Viscose Melamine formaldehyde Oxidised poly(acrylonitrile) Aromatic polyimideamide Aromatic polyimideamide Polyimide Epoxy, chopped carbon

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Fig. 2. Cross-section of the thermal protection index (TPI) apparatus (adapted from BS EN 367 [27]).

2.5. Production of non-woven material Samples of blended non-woven material both for benchand full-scale experiments were produced through the forced entanglement of bres, where the mechanical process of needle punching was used to form a non-woven fabric. The process is particularly useful for applications where the use of spun yarn, such as in woven or knitted fabric, would introduce an unnecessary expense. Zirpro treated wool and the selected technical bre were blended and mixed together by hand in the required proportions according to mass fraction. The loose blend was then introduced to a sample card, where by the action of several needled rollers spinning at differential velocities, the bres were further blended and combined to form continuous web. Needle punching of the bres was achieved using a punch machine tted with regular barb (RB) needles to produce even felting on both sides of the processed material. Apart from the obvious aesthetic qualities, double-sided needle-punching also gives a denser, tighter and more entangled bre arrangement that improves both the residual strength and barrier performance qualities. Three wool/technical bre ratios were selected as 95/5, 85/15 and 75/25. A nominal fabric weight of 300 g/m2 was chosen as the target fabric weight of the nished blended material as most currently available re-blocking fabrics fall within the fabric weight range of 250 and 350 g/m2.

consisting of 100% pure bre. Assessment was conducted using a modied setup of the BS EN 367 test [27] consisting of a total net heat ux of 50 kW/m2 produced by a Meker burner ame incident on one side of the sample and a copper disc calorimeter on the opposite side (Fig. 2) with a thermocouple used to measure the heat transfer to the disc. Heat transfer performance of a material is a good indicator for sample superiority, but is not a sufcient criterion by itself. Heat transfer through the sample incorporated a combination of heat passage through the network of bres and, where/if the sample structure had been ruptured, split or decomposed, directly from ame to the calorimeter. The test did not distinguish between the modes of heat transfer and the physical changes of the sample during testing. Consequently the heat transfer tests gave a relative comparison of performance. Reducing the likelihood of mechanical failure of the inter-liner is an important factor when choosing a suitable bre to combine with wool. By choosing a bre which also has a strong dimensional stability during aming exposure, the stress on the char structure is minimised, leading to a lesser likelihood of rupture of the barrier substrate. The network of re resistant bres would also act as a scaffolding and support matrix, upon which a continuous intumescent thermal boundary can form. Extra 300 g/m2 samples were tested with the modied convective heat equipment and the projected, intact, surface area was calculated before and after testing to gauge the dimensional stability during high temperature thermal exposure.

3. Comparative heat transfer performance of pure bre 3.2. Results 3.1. Procedure In order to isolate and distinguish the best performing technical bre types, non-woven, 3 mm thick samples were made A parameter referred to as the thermal protection index (TPI) is dened here as the best linear t line to the test data of the time taken for the copper disc calorimeter to measure a temperature of

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300 1C minus the TPI of the calorimeter without a sample for a range of sample densities. The choice of 300 1C follows from the approximate ignition temperature of polyurethane foam which has been shown to fall in the vicinity of 280 1C [8]. The TPI results (Fig. 3) show clear linear trends between each sample type and especially between the best and worst performing samples. The

trends become more dened and separate as the range of sample density was increased. The relative ranking of pure bre samples based upon TPI and dimensional stability are shown in Table 3, where the calculated values for dimensional stability are an average of 10 tests. Table 3 demonstrates a strong level of agreement between the heat transfer and dimensional stability performance. The highest TPI values are given by those samples showing the least dimensional change during exposure to ame and generally those with a higher LOI. The trend is consistent and supports the intuitive conclusion that the best protection (i.e. higher TPI) is achieved by those samples which have fewer tendencies to shrink, crack or deform when exposed to re.

4. Cone calorimeter assessment of bench-scale composites 4.1. Procedure Having identied the top four performing technical bres from the heat transfer tests, non-woven fabric samples were made using the process described previously. Gral bre has the ability to transport static charge which can lead to an accumulation of bres on rollers and cards and on some occasions causing electrical malfunctions [28]. Only two out of the three composition ratios were made containing Gral because of these difculties. Resulting non-woven fabric weights had an average of 296 g/m2 and a coefcient of variation of 5.4%. Table 4 shows the variants of non-woven fabrics with the inclusion of the two commercial fabrics for comparison. Each re blocking fabric was incorporated into bench-scale furniture composites consisting of the polypropylene upholstery fabric, the inter-liner and the CTU foam. Specimens were a nominal (100 100 50) mm3 block as specied ISO 5660 [29]. The foam core was cut to within a 75% mass tolerance level in keeping with ISO 5657 [30] and BS 476: Part 13 [31], but with no allowance for the thickness of the covering layers. Square pieces measuring (260 260) mm3 for both inter-liner and upholstery fabric were cut, ensuring they were free from blemishes such as density variation or weave irregularities. The uniformity of the commercially produced upholstery was very consistent and all samples weighed were within 1% variation from the mean. The inter-liners contained more irregularities, however they were within 75% tolerance. The shape for the fabric shells were transferred by tracing around a template modied from ISO 5657. Samples were tested using the edge frame and grid to eliminate

Fig. 3. Comparison of the thermal protection index (TPI) results for each pure bre type at different fabric weights.

Table 3 Ranking of pure bre needle felts according to dimensional stability during exposure to ame and comparison with thermal protection index (TPI) results. Ranking 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
n

Fibre Gral Panox Basol FR Viscose Zirpro wool Kermel P84 Kermel Tech Wool

Area change % 0 8 16 39 49 61 84 88 n/an

Fibre Gral Panox Basol FR Viscose Zirpro wool Kermel Kermel Tech P84 Wool

Calculated TPI 210 150 81 90 56 79 38 28 18a

Could not be measured due to extensive decomposition. TPI values for lambs wool was experimentally determined at only one density and only for comparison against the FR bres listed in the table.
a

Table 4 Sample identication, average density, CO, CO2, specic extinction area and heat of combustion for cone calorimeter tests. Material or blend Designation Fabric weight (g/m2) Specic extinction area (m2/kg) CO yield (g/g) CO2 yield (g/g) Heat of combustion (MJ/kg)

Zirpro control Zirpro/Panox 95/5 Zirpro/Panox 85/15 Zirpro/Panox 75/25 Zirpro/Basol 95/5 Zirpro/Basol 85/15 Zirpro/Basol 75/25 Zirpro/FR Viscose 95/5 Zirpro/FR Viscose 85/15 Zirpro/FR Viscose 75/25 Zirpro/Gral 95/5 Zirpro/Gral 85/15 Kevlar Panotex

Zirpro Z/P

Z/B

Z/FRV Z/G Kevlar Panotex

307 297 295 317 312 297 275 327 276 291 289 266 280 349

502 513 436 378 485 409 412 503 480 526 497 416 355 503

0.065 0.055 0.040 0.035 0.063 0.054 0.043 0.069 0.044 0.073 0.037 0.041 0.021 0.049

1.859 2.094 1.970 2.129 2.009 1.898 1.457 2.133 1.221 2.173 1.851 1.813 2.162 2.091

27.9 31.4 30.1 29.3 28.9 30.0 26.6 32.0 27.9 31.2 26.4 26.0 31.5 31.2

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movement of the specimens off the sample holder or expansion up to the conical heater coil. The use of the edge frame and grid resulted in slight compression of the sample within the holder; however, when samples were exposed to the radiant heat, the foam softened and receded from the heat source prior to combustion, therefore relieving the compression force. Previous work by Babrauskas et al. [32] showed that the edge frame had no effect on ignition, but generally resulted in lower peak and 180 s period heat release rates. Since the main objective of this work was to provide a comparative ranking rather than absolute values, the reduction in HRR due to the frame was not critical. Triplicate samples were tested in the cone calorimeter for each non-woven variant at an irradiance level of 50 kW/m2. 4.2. Results 4.2.1. Ignition and heat release rate Ignition of the surface upholstery is difcult to control with the use of an underlying protective barrier, although it may have a slight inuence if the melting upholstery is allowed to penetrate into a porous FR barrier, thereby temporarily reducing the amount of melted residue exposed to an external heat ux. Ignition times were between 15 and 20 s for all tests and melting of the fabric into the barrier was observed although it was difcult to quantify its effect. The isolated peak HRR from the covering layer is often of a relatively short duration compared to the remaining heat output and less than the peak caused by the combustion of the foam core. Instead, an effective re barrier aims to reduce the peak HRR from combustion of material beneath it and/or increase the time at which this maximum HRR occurs so that the combination of increased time to peak HRR and decrease in maximum HRR is the optimal result. Fig. 4 shows the average HRR output from the unprotected foam/fabric sample and 85/15 blend composites. The results for the 85/15 blend are typical of the other two blends. A lowering of the peak HRR from the covering upholstery was observed for certain bre types e.g. Basol. Despite this occasional occurrence, the upholstery produced a HRR spike early in the combustion sequence, and, as might be expected, this peak occurred at nominally the same time due to the identical sample preparation and presentation to the heat source. Fig. 4 clearly distinguishes the peak HRR results (excluding the upholstery peak) that were used to identify combinations with superior re blocking ability. The Z/G and Z/P blends were better performers, having a lower magnitude and occurring at increased time than the Z/FRV and Z/B blends.

Fig. 5. Cone calorimeter heat release rate results for all wool/FR bre sample combinations tested: (a) average peak value and (b) average time to peak.

Fig. 5(a) shows the average peak HRR for each composite blend and conrms the major trend and order of the best performing composites. However, the expected trend of decreasing HRR with increasing technical bre proportion is not conclusive. The density of inter-liner samples (Table 4) shows there is a noticeable variation over the three blend ratios. In the case of the Z/B and Z/FRV blends the 95/5 composition obtained a higher density than the 85/15 or 75/25 blends, and this may have contributed to the reversal in the expected trend. Times to reach maximum HRR are displayed in Fig. 5(b). The best performing combinations are those maximising the time to peak HRR and the same order of merit is obtained with the Z/G and Z/P blends outperforming the Z/FRV and Z/B blends and also the plain Zirpro treated wool. The dominant trend is clear in that the Z/G and Z/P combinations were superior. Although Z/G had a slight performance advantage over Z/P, Gral bre is a very rigid, high carbon content (499%) bre and is not unlike glass bre when in contact with human skin, causing discomfort and irritation [28]. Despite the success of the Z/G blend when exposed to re, the difculties in processing and the effect on humans made the Z/G combination a less desirable choice for use in furniture applications.

Fig. 4. Comparison of heat release rates of bench-scale composites tested in the cone calorimeter with a wool/FR bre ratio of 85/15 and an unprotected composite.

4.2.2. Combustion products The use of multiple measured parameters goes some way to reinforce possible signicant trends that may only seem suggestive from the data of a single parameter. Table 4 also gives a summary of average CO, CO2, specic extinction area (SEA) and heat of combustion obtained from the cone calorimeter. The Z/P blend at the 75/25 blend ratio was found to be the superior product with an SEA of 378 m2/kg, which is comparable to Kevlar

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having a SEA of 355 m2/kg. All other composites ranged 409 526 m2/kg. For CO yield, the response to increasing the technical bre proportion was not the same for all sample types. The Z/P and Z/B composites exhibited a decrease in average CO yield with an increase in technical bre, whilst the Z/FRV and Z/G composites did not show much difference regardless of the blend. Only Z/B displayed a decreasing trend in CO2 yield with increasing Basol proportion. All other samples displayed a relatively constant CO2 yield regardless of the inter-liner composition. This may suggest that the dominant proportion of the CO2 produced originates from complete combustion of the fabric and foam and that the CO yield

is more likely to be inuenced by the incomplete combustion of the re resistant layer. This is also supported, in part, by the effective heat of combustion values which were likewise, relatively invariant.

5. Furniture calorimeter tests 5.1. Procedure The results provided by the cone calorimeter identied the Z/P (75/25) blend as the best practical candidate material for the next

Fig. 6. Photographic timeline at indicated times after ignition of the wood crib for the Control B sample.

Fig. 7. Photographic timeline at indicated times after ignition of the wood crib for the Zirpro/Panox (Z/P) C sample.

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stage of assessment. Furthermore, the Panox technical bre has a lower relative cost compared to Gral and is not signicantly greater than Basol and FR Viscose. The Z/P (75/25) blend interliner was tested in an ASTM E 1537-99 [34] comparable furniture calorimeter as a more realistic representation of a polyurethane lled chair, alongside unprotected (upholstery and foam without inter-liner) control chairs, Zirpro protected and chairs incorporating Kevlar and Panotex commercial inter-liner products. Unfortunately there was only sufcient material to carry out one Kevlar and two Panotex tests; however, the results up to the 20 min mark strongly indicated that any expected variation would occur after this time and this was enough of an indication for comparison with the Z/P (75/25) blend. Cleary and Quintiere [33] recommend the use of small ignition sources in the assessment of the re hazard of upholstered furniture in conjunction with a measure of peak HRR and time to peak in addition to ignition from larger sources such a gas burner. Greater reproducibility and consistency can be achieved using a burner, but this approach can mask the initial re resistance of a sample to a realistically increasing heat source, and in many cases

the immediate severity of the ignition ame is sufciently high to guarantee combustion, regardless of the existence of moderate, passive re resistant measures. Initial behaviour of a sample assembly, whether on the surface or involving the substrates, is an important consideration which is more easily observed using ignition sources such as wood cribs. These give a small but steadily intensifying heat source that more strongly resemble the early stages of a real re. Wood cribs to BS 5852 no. 5 cribs [10] were used in this research providing approximately 16 to 17 g of conditioned total mass even though use of the wood cribs deviates from the standard ignition source used in ASTM E 1537-99 [34], in which a controlled gas burner ame impinges upon the sample for 80 s. Furniture cushions were constructed to the nominal dimensions of (509 457 102) mm3 for the seat cushion and (635 457 51) mm3 for the back cushion with all dimensions having a tolerance of 73 mm. These dimensions were taken from FAR 25.853(c) [17] and formed a convenient and standardised method of seat construction. The cushions were placed on a metal seat frame to FAR 25.853(c), so that the combustible portion of

Fig. 8. Separate sample cumulative energy curves for each inter-liner material type tested in the furniture calorimeter.

Fig. 9. Average heat release rate of from furniture calorimeter for each inter-liner material type.

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the test seat comprised of only the soft materials (i.e. foam, fabrics, liners and stitching). Each specimen was conditioned to (20 73) 1C and (50 75)% RH prior to testing. Lint on the wooden crib was wetted with 1.4 70.1 ml of alcohol and ignited with a match with the cribs placed at the join between the vertical and horizontal cushions, mid-way across the seat. The location for the wood crib was typical of most full-scale test requirements and results from Mitler and Tu [35] suggest it was likely to give the earliest time to peak HRR and little effect on the peak HRR value. Combustion of the seat assembly was allowed to follow its own natural progression without any external interference until complete self-extinction was achieved. HRR was determined from oxygen, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide gas data. All tests were recorded on video with still digital photographs taken intermittently over the test duration. 5.2. Results 5.2.1. Observations It was observed that all unprotected samples collapsed and broke away from the frame during the burning process and continued to burn as pool res. The break-up of the unprotected samples was subject to randomness, and hence an observed variability in the HRR history. Conversely, protected samples remained in place whilst releasing the melted polymer at a proportionately slower rate onto the tray underneath the seat assembly. There was no substantial pool re contribution from the protected samples, although some of this could be the result of using a metal tray that may have acted as a heat sink, thereby cooling the melted residue. Figs. 6 and 7 show photographic time series of a control sample and a Zirpro/Panox (Z/P) inter-liner sample that illustrate the difference in the re development between unprotected and protected samples. An indication of the manner in which the samples were consumed, encompassing the break-up and the consequent progression of combustion, can be observed in Fig. 8 where the obvious variability of the control samples cumulative energy curves is contrasted with the more consistent curves produced by those samples incorporating an inter-liner. The 100% Zirpro wool samples did not perform any better than the controls in terms of combustion severity, but did not break-up or separate from the frame as early or to the same extent. 5.2.2. Heat release rate Fig. 9 shows the averaged HRR curves for each composite type, excluding the Control A sample data, as it was too far removed from the other two control sample output curves as illustrated in Fig. 8. The HRR for the unprotected and 100% Zirpro treated wool inter-liner composites began to increase at between 2 and 3 min, whereas those samples with effective barrier protection did not show an increase in HRR until approximately 20 min following ignition of the cribs. The time when HRR increases and also the magnitude of the peak HRR is substantially different between the two performing groups. The best performers did not peak much above 50 kW, while the remainder peaked at values between 210 and 240 kW. 5.2.3. Combustion products The CO, CO2 and smoke production in the furniture calorimeter tests are shown in Fig. 10 and support an earlier indication from the cone calorimeter tests that the carbon oxide gas emissions would reect a similar trend to the HRR. The Z/P inter-liner matched the level of performance of commercial materials for at least 20 min. Carbon dioxide peak levels from the Z/P blend are similar to those from the commercial products and carbon

Fig. 10. Average furniture calorimeter test results for each inter-liner material type: (a) carbon dioxide; (b) carbon monoxide; (c) smoke production.

monoxide levels are at least twice those of the commercial products, but are signicantly less than the control and Zirpro test results. Smoke production follows a similar pattern, where the Z/P results are almost indistinguishable from the commercial product protected samples for approximately 1400 s. The smoke response of Z/P from the furniture calorimeter matches the results from the cone calorimeter tests in that Z/P behaves similarly to Kevlar in terms of smoke contribution for this type of application and does so for a signicant duration of the test. 5.2.4. Results after 1200 s and at test completion Table 5 gives a total value for each measured response during the furniture calorimeter tests. After 1200 s (20 min), the control and Zirpro samples had essentially nished burning, whereas the Z/P results had a very similar response to the Kevlar and Panotex samples with only a small proportion of their nal yields having

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Table 5 Summary of furniture calorimeter results after 1200 s and at test completion. After 1200 s Sample Mass lost (kg) 0.903 1.630 1.422 1.318 0.374 1.813 1.914 2.040 1.922 0.114 0.202 0.320 0.310 0.277 0.065 1.197 0.201 0.699 0.704 0.271 Total energy (MJ) 40.5 69.2 55.1 54.9 14.4 65.5 66.1 70.4 67.4 2.7 4.7 5.4 6.2 5.4 0.8 36.0 4.3 20.2 22.5 3.6 Total smoke (m2) 172 457 477 369 171 499 420 568 496 74 0 102 44 49 51 228 13 121 152 47 CO yield (g) 3.19 5.40 4.48 4.36 1.11 3.93 5.57 5.84 5.11 1.03 0.63 0.90 1.40 0.94 0.41 1.10 0.75 0.93 0.25 0.96 CO2 yield (g) 2279 4463 3493 3412 1094 4360 4165 4576 4367 206 322 343 472 379 81 139 170 155 22 185 Mass lost (kg) 1.115 1.637 1.428 1.393 0.263 1.813 1.914 2.040 1.922 0.114 1.712 1.712 1.637 1.687 0.043 1.197 0.201 0.699 0.704 0.486 At test completion Total energy (MJ) 46.8 69.2 55.1 57.0 11.4 66.0 66.5 70.4 67.6 2.4 50.9 41.7 41.0 44.5 5.5 36.0 4.3 20.2 22.5 5.7 Total smoke (m2) 212 457 482 384 149 506 420 577 501 79 273 373 307 318 51 228 13 121 152 109 CO yield (g) 4.13 5.60 4.55 4.76 0.76 3.94 5.86 5.95 5.25 1.14 11.06 12.80 11.58 11.81 0.89 8.07 2.82 5.45 3.71 4.63 CO2 yield (g) 3015 4506 3532 3684 757 4543 4260 4625 4476 192 3313 2677 2781 2924 341 2426 472 1449 1382 382

Control A Control B Control C Mean S.D. Zirpro A Zirpro B Zirpro C Mean S.D. Z/P A Z/P B Z/P C Mean S.D. Panotex A Panotex B Mean S.D. Kevlar

been recorded. Beyond 1200 s however, the Z/P barrier no longer maintained its protective quality. Table 5 also shows the same parameters after the samples have self-extinguished or after the protection of the barrier fabric was nally overcome. The period for self-extinction was around 5060 min for the protected, slow burning samples. Fig. 8 shows that beyond 1500 s the Z/P samples begin to produce more CO, but this occurs at a late stage in contrast to the more combustible samples which reach peak CO emissions earlier and with higher magnitude. The increased CO2 and CO production in latter stages is most likely the result of decomposition of the FR wool component to an extent where protection of combustible material is no longer possible. Flaming was then allowed to increase and react with the high carbon content of the technical bre portion of the inter-liner in addition to the more exposed ammable components, thereby producing larger carbon oxide quantities.

process will likely affect the cost of manufacture. Due to the environmental impact of the Zirpro treatment [19], it would be advantageous to identify alternative re retardant treatments for wool. Promoting the introduction of inter-liner materials does not imply a complete solution to solving the combustibility problems associated with foam-lled furnishings. A more thorough approach would be to incorporate an integrated re resistance into every combustible sub-component of the furniture item i.e. upholstery, foam and frame materials, however this would need a cost/benet study along the lines of the study carried out by Wade et al. [36].

Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Grant Dunlop for his assistance during the furniture calorimeter tests. The Fire Engineering programme at the University of Canterbury is supported by the New Zealand Fire Service Commission.

6. Conclusions A blend ratio of (75/25), Zirpro wool/Panox bres forming a protective barrier material has been identied which offers a comparable level of performance to established inter-liner products. The blend identied has higher wool and lower technical bre proportion than inter-liners previously developed for aircraft seat re protection. Although there is scope for further research, the results demonstrate that the re safety of polyurethane foam-lled furniture can be improved by incorporating a low-cost inter-liner thereby providing a solution which could be adopted by the New Zealand furniture manufacturers. In order to develop the inter-liner further it is recommended that fabric blends are manufactured using fully commercial processes to ensure the uniformity and density of blended bre in the material. Only soft components of idealised furniture mockups were tested and only one type of foam was used. Any future work should consider actual furniture models lined with the re barrier. This future work should examine how connections and stitching might affect the performance of the inter-liner and this

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