Textile heat release properties measured by microscale combustion calorimetry: Experimental repeatability

In this research, we evaluated the repeatability of microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC) measurement of heat release properties for different textile fabrics including polypropylene, cotton, polyester, Kevlar, acrylic, nylon, silk, and the cotton treated with an organophosphorus flame retardant. The repeatability investigation was mostly based on the measurement of peak heat release rate (PHRR) and heat release capacity (HRC), the two most important heat release parameters measured by MCC. We found that PHRR and HRC of most textile fibers had coefficient of variance (CV) lower than and in the vicinity of 3.0%. The CVs were influenced by both the standard deviation (SD) of measurements and by the values of these measurements. The use of an aerobic pyrolysis environment (80/20 nitrogen/oxygen) for MCC experiments did not affect the repeatability of measurement. We also evaluated the shift of the oxygen analyzer as a result of long-term usage, and found that PHRR and HRC of cotton decreased between -4.0 and -3.9%, respectively, after an 11-month period, indicating that the shift of the oxygen analyzer is limited. Experimental factors influencing the MCC repeatability were also discussed. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.