Particles from fires―a screening of common materials found in buildings

摘要

Small combustion generated particles are known to have a negative impact on human health and on the environment. In spite of the huge amount of particles generated locally in a fire accident, few investigations have been made on the particles from such fires. In this article, 24 different materials or products, typically found in buildings have been exposed to burning conditions in order to examine their particle generating capacity. In addition, a carbon fibre based composite material was tested in order to investigate if asbestos-resembling particles could be generated in a fire situation. The majority of the experiments were performed in the small-scale cone calorimeter, and some further data were collected in intermediate scale (SBI) and full scale (room-corner) tests. Additional testing of the composite material was made in a small-scale tubular reactor. The amount of particles and particle size distributions were measured by the use of a low-pressure impactor and particle aerodynamic diameter sizes from 30 nm to 10 μm were measured. The results from the project show that the yield of particles generated varied significantly between materials but that the shape of mass and number size distributions were very similar for all the materials tested. The maximum amount of particles was obtained from materials that did not burn well (e.g. flame retarded materials). Well-burning materials, e.g. wood materials, tend to oxidize all available substances and thereby minimize the amount of particles in the smoke gas. It was found that asbestos-resembling particles could be produced from under-ventilated combustion of the composite material tested.