Studies on fire behaviour of video compact disc (VCD) materials with a cone calorimeter

摘要

Fire safety of retail shops selling video compact discs (VCDs) must be assessed properly. It is proposed and demonstrated in this paper that testing the materials with a cone calorimeter is the minimum requirement. Six arrangements of VCDs with and without a plastic case were considered. Radiative heat fluxes of 20, 50 and 70 kW m-2 were applied in the tests. The ignition time, peak heat release rate, average heat release rates in 60 and 180 s after ignition, total heat release rate, mass loss percentage, total smoke release, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide yields of the component materials in those different VCD arrangements were measured. VCD itself was found to have lower fire risk, as it was not ignited ever under flashover heat flux of 20 kW m-2. However, putting the VCD in a plastic case creates a much higher risk.