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Engineering Laboratory /Fire Research Division

Flammability Reduction Group

The Flammability Reduction Group develops, advances, and deploys measurement science to reduce fire hazard of building contents and construction materials. Carries out mission-related measurement science research and services to reduce material ignition probability, fire growth and spread, and environmental impacts; and develop codes and standards for cost-effective, fire-safe building contents and construction materials.

PFAS
Measurement Science of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Program
Barrier Fabric Compartment Flashover
Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture
The graphic depicts a firefighter wearing protective turnout gear with a diagram of the three layers of the gear, which are the outer shell, the moisture barrier and thermal barrier.
Researchers Pin Down PFAS Prevalence in Firefighter Gear

Staff Spotlight

January 26, 2021
The Flammability Reduction Group within the Fire Research Division (FRD) welcomes Dr. Andrew Maizel and Mr. Mike Heck as Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) researchers.

HIGHLIGHT

March 31, 2022
Happy Retirement, Cone Calorimeter!

SchematicDrawingConeCalorimeter
Credit: Fire Science and Technology Inc.

After 40 years in service as a groundbreaking NIST-invented device for measuring the flammability of materials at the lab bench scale, the NIST cone calorimeter is being retired and will be replaced with a commercially produced system modeled on its design. The transition is tentatively scheduled to be completed by the end of the summer of 2022.  Flammability Reduction Group Leader Rick Davis and supervisory librarian Keith Martin are working to see what parts of the original “mother” cone calorimeter could be put on display in the NIST Museum to commemorate the device’s role in advancing the science of fire safety testing.
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News and Updates

RShields

Remembering Randy Shields

John “Randy” Shields, a physical scientist in the Flammability Reduction Group of EL’s Fire Research Division, died suddenly of a heart attack on June 27, 2020

Projects and Programs

epoxy with an intumescent fire retardant

Engineered Fire Safe Products

Ongoing
This project will conduct research to support the use of lightweight (wood, plastics, and composites)-engineered fire safe products (L-EFSP) with long fire

Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture

Ongoing
To reduce the flammability of residential upholstered furniture (RUF), the fire safety community has developed test methods and mitigation strategies based on
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Publications

Estimating the Impact of 16 CFR Part 1633 on Bed Fire Outcomes

Author(s)
Stanley W. Gilbert, David T. Butry, Richard G. Gann, Rick D. Davis
Effective July 1, 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission promulgated a Standard that would severely reduce the heat release rate and the early heat
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Software

CFAST

CFAST

The Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport, CFAST, is a computer program that fire investigators, safety officials, engineers, architects and builders

FDS and Smokeview

Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) is a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of fire-driven fluid flow. The software solves numerically a form of the Navier
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Tools and Instruments

Cone Calorimeter

Cone Calorimeter

In the late 1970s and early 1980s the fire community was pushing for reliable bench-scale tools to measure material flammability based on heat release rate. A

Awards

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