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ASTM Selected Technical Papers
Characterization and Toxicity of Smoke
By
HK Hasegawa
HK Hasegawa
1
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
,
Livermore, CA 94550
;
symposium chairman and editor
Search for other works by this author on:
ISBN-10:
0-8031-1386-2
ISBN:
978-0-8031-1386-2
No. of Pages:
197
Publisher:
ASTM International
Publication date:
1990

In fires, combustion behavior of materials, generation rates, and concentrations of fire products depend on many factors, such as the chemical structures of materials (aliphatic to aromatic to highly halogenated), fire ventilation, airflow and mixing, shape, size and arrangement of the materials, heat flux received by the materials, etc. Thus, toxicity of the environment is expected to depend on these factors.

This paper examines the relationship between the combustion behavior of materials and the toxicity of the environment. In this analysis, only CO and CO2 are used, using the toxicity relationship suggested by Levin et al. [3] on the synergism between CO and CO2 and data measured in the Factory Mutual Research Corp. (FMRC) small-scale flammability apparatus.

1.
Fire and Smoke: Understanding the Hazards
, Committee on Fire Toxicology, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology Commission on Life Sciences,
National Research Council, National Academy Press
,
Washington, DC
,
1986
.
2.
Purser
,
D. A.
, “
Toxicity Assessment of Combustion Products
,” Chapt. 14, Sect. 1,
The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering
,
Dinenno
P. J.
, Ed.,
National Fire Protection Association
,
Quincy, MA
,
1988
, p. I-200.
3.
Levin
,
B. C.
,
Paabo
,
M.
,
Gurman
,
J. L.
,
Harris
,
S. E.
, and
Braun
,
E.
, “
Evidence of Toxicological Synergism Between Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide
,”
Toxicology
, (to be published).
4.
Tewarson
,
A.
, “
Experimental Evaluation of Flammability Parameters of Polymeric Materials
,” Chapt. 3,
Flame Retardant Polymeric Materials
, Vol.
3
,
Lewin
M.
,
Atlas
S. M.
, and
Pearce
E. M.
, Eds.,
Plenum Press
,
New York
,
1982
, p. 97.
5.
Tewarson
,
A.
and
Newman
,
J. S.
, “
Scale Effects on Fire Properties of Materials
,”
Fire Safety Science—Proceedings of the First International Symposium
,
Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
,
New York, NY
,
1986
, p. 451.
6.
Tewarson
,
A.
, “
Generation of Heat and Chemical Compounds in Fires
,” Chapt. 13, Sect. 1,
The SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering
,
Dinenno
P. J.
, Ed.,
National Fire Protection Association
,
Quincy, MA
,
1988
, p. I-179.
7.
Beyler
,
C. L.
, “
Major Species Production by Solid Fuels in a Two-Layer Compartment Fire Environment
,”
Fire Safety Science—Proceedings of the First International Symposium
,
Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
,
New York, NY
,
1986
, p. 431.
8.
Tewarson
,
A.
and
Steciak
,
J. S.
, “
Fire Ventilation
,”
Combustion and Flame
 0010-2180, Vol.
52
,
1983
, p. 123.
9.
Kaplan
,
H. L.
,
Grand
,
A. F.
, and
Hartzell
,
G. E.
, “
A Critical Review of the State-of-the-Art of Combustion Toxicology
,” Final Report SWRI Project No. 01-6862,
Southwest Research Institute
, San Antonio, TX,
06
1982
.
10.
Levin
,
B. C.
,
Paabo
,
M.
, and
Birby
,
M. M.
, “
An Interlaboratory Evaluation of the 1980 Version of the National Bureau of Standards Test Method for Assessing the Acute Inhalation Toxicity of Combustion Products
,” Technical Report NBS1R83-2678,
National Bureau of Standards
, Gaithersburg, MD,
04
1983
S.
11.
Anderson
,
R. C.
,
Croce
,
P. A.
,
Feeley
,
F. G.
, and
Sakura
,
J. D.
, “
Study to Assess the Feasibility of Incorporating Combustion Toxicity Requirements into Building Material and Furnishing Codes of New York State
,” Vols.
1
,
2
, and
3
, Technical Reports Reference 88712,
Arthur D. Little, Inc.
, Cambridge, MA,
05
1983
.
12.
Potts
,
W. J.
,
Lederer
,
T. S.
, and
Quast
,
J. F.
, “
A Study of the Inhalation Toxicity of Smoke Product Upon Pyrolysis and Combustion of Polyethylene Foams, Part I, Laboratory Studies
,”
Journal of Combustion Toxicology
, Vol.
5
,
1978
, p. 408.
13.
Heskestad
,
G.
, “
Fire Plume Air Entrainment According to Two Competing Assumptions
,”
Twenty First Symposium (International) on Combustion
,
The Combustion Institute
,
Pittsburgh, PA
,
1986
, p. 111.
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