PROPOSED NEW BS TESTS FOR FLAMMABILITY OF FABRICS - BACKGROUND PAPER

This background paper discusses the proposed new BS tests for measuring the flammability of fabrics, which are designed to remove some of the imperfections and inconsistencies of the existing BS test procedures. Interlaboratory trials were conducted by the Textile Institute and a three-year study of test methods for the burning behavior of textile fabrics and assemblies was carried out. The research study embraced a broad range of fabrics of different fiber content, weight and therefore burning behavior. Ease of ignition was measured by reference to the minimum time required to initiate burning of the sample.