Assessment of the NASA Flammability Screening Test and Related Aspects ofMaterial Flammability

摘要

The final report summarizes the results of an assessment of the NASA flammabilityscreening test (8060.1B) for materials to be used in manned spacecraft interiors. A set of materials was examined using the standard NASA test, a modified version of the test which incorporated external radiation and NIST tests which measure ignitability, rate of heat release and opposed flow flame spread behavior. Materials passing the standard NASA screening test showed widely varying degrees of flammability enhancement when subjected to external radiation (nodified NASA test, NIST tests). Since such radiation is implicit in many normal fire scenarios, materials passing the standard NASA screening test should not be treated as non-flammable. The quantitative role of self-feedback of radiation remains to be fully clarified; an apparatus to examine the issue was built but no tests could be completed in the allotted time. The rate of heatrelease from the two-sided burning of thermally-thin materials was quantitatively compared to that for one-sided burning; the issue was believed to be at the heart of certain anomalies in the earlier stages of the study. On the basis of the study, it is recommended that NASA supplement their existing flammability screening test with one that incorporates external radiation. It is further recommended that the supplemental test in normal gravity be correlated experimentally with a similar test in micro-gravity.