Burning Behavior of Upholstered Furniture Mockups

Furniture mockups consisting of various arrangements of full-size cushions were tested in the NBS furniture calorimeter. Measurements included heat release, combustion product concentrations, and flame spread characteristics. Major variations in burning were observed: neoprene mockups only smoldered, flame retardant treated polyurethane mockups burned more slowly than un treated mockups but eventually reached similar maximum heat release rates. Fabrics were ranked, in terms of maximum heat release rate and several other measured characteristics, from low to high: heavy cotton fabric; light cotton and heavy olefin, and light olefin. Flame spread rate measured on the mockups cor related with the time to reach a 100 kW heat release rate. Heat release rate and combustion product concentration generally increased with increasing number of cushions per mockup. Thinner cushions burned more rapidly than thicker ones.