Determination of Toxicity of Combustion Products of Habitability Foams Concurrently with Flammability Studies of These Materials.

摘要

A method for the quantitative evaluation of fire behavior including toxicity in a single apparatus was developed and subjected to preliminary evaluation. Using four test materials identified by the U.S. Navy, conditions of decomposition process were varied by changing the heat flux (20 kW/sq m and 80 kW/sq m), sample area, sample material, fire ventilation and total dilution of fire products . Toxicity was measured by bioassay using death as the animal response. Toxicity data were compared to test data obtained in the University of Pittsburgh test apparatus. Several possible indicators of toxicity were identified. These were fuel vapor concentration, dilution factor and concentration of pyrolyzate and CO. These might prove useful in material comparisons as well as in fire modeling developed for hazard evaluation. Order at relative potency for the four test materials was similar for each ranking system examined. (Author)