FLAMMABILITY OF SETS OF FABRIC FOAM COMBINATIONS FOR USE IN UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE

Two series of fire tests were carried out on fabric/foam composites appropriate for upholstered furniture systems. The small scale test used was the NBS cone rate of heat release calorimeter and the full scale test was the British Standard BS5852, pt. 2 (a mock-up test). All the systems were based on the use of two foam samples, both commercially available. One foam was a standard non fire retarded flexible polyurethane while the other one was heavily fire retarded with melamine. The materials tested as fabric samples included seven commercial products covering a wide range of compositions. These were compared to a variety of experimental vinyl compounds, formulated to investigate the suitability of such materials for high fire risk applications. The cone calorimeter was used to select some of the fabric materials to be used in full scale tests. The predictability of this instrument in terms of the relative ranking of the products tested in full scale was excellent. A series of vinyl materials were developed with excellent fire performance in both tests. They outperformed all the other materials tested. In particular they passed the full scale test with a 126 g wood crib ignition source, both when used on standard foam and on FR foam. In comparison, the best of the commercial materials tested failed this test with an 8·5g wood crib on standard foam and with a 126 g crib on FR foam. The fire performance of the new experimental vinyl products developed appears to make them suitable for use as furniture covers for high risk applications. © 1990.