A substantial number of studies have been dedicated to development of mathematical models that describe degradation of solid materials exposed to external heat flux. These models range in their complexity from analytical formulations based on assumption of a steady-state to complete, numerical solutions of the transient heat and mass transport coupled with chemical reactions. Most of these models are one-dimensional. They predict the rate of mass loss from a unit area of the exposed surface. Some models incorporate a description of the gas-phase combustion. Such models are frequently used to simulate the spread of flame (flame spread models are usually two-dimensional). Potentially, these models can be employed to understand and predict materials flammability. However, their utilization has been hampered by reliance on assumptions that make each of them applicable to a relatively narrow range of conditions and limited number of materials.
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