Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A study has been conducted to elucidate the mechanisms of flame spread over a filter paper by adhesive permeation. Two adhesives of polyvinyl acetate resin and urea resin were chosen, which are most widely used for manufacturing furniture or finishing walls of residents. Thermogravimetric characteristics of samples were examined. Also, temperature distributions near the leading flame edges were measured. Based on the measured thermogravimetric characteristics and temperature distributions, the mechanisms of flame spread were discussed. Flame spread depends strongly on the pyrolysis reaction of a permeated adhesive. The amount of heat transferred through gas phase to the pure filter paper sheet was indicated to be larger than that to the filter paper sheet permeated with an adhesive. This was inferred to be the main cause to decrease the flame spread rate with polyvinyl acetate resin permeation.