Materials flammability

News and Updates

Diagram shows a mattress being set on fire by gas burners in a standard flammability test.

Mattress Flammability Standard Is a Lifesaver, NIST Report Finds

November 18, 2020

No matter how soft and cozy, beds that have gone up in flames are a source of some of the deadliest fires in the U.S. As large pieces of furniture loaded with

NIST Conducts Full-Scale Experiments to Demonstrate Flammability Risk of Residential Upholstered Furniture (RUF) and Potential Mitigation Strategies

March 12, 2020

The NIST Flammability Reduction Group (FRG) is conducting a series of full-scale fire experiments in collaboration with the National Fire Research Laboratory

The Ninth Triennial International Fire & Cabin Safety Research Conference

October 29, 2019

Two members of the NIST Flammability Reduction group recently attended the Ninth Triennial International Fire & Cabin Safety Research Conference, which was

Projects and Programs

Residential Fire Safety Innovation

Residential fire losses substantially dominate the total fire losses in the U.S. accounting for 83% of the 2855 deaths, 78% or the 16500 injuries, and 58% of

epoxy with an intumescent fire retardant

Engineered Fire Safe Products

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

Reduced Ignition of Building Components in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Wildland fires that spread into urban areas, termed Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires, are becoming more and more common across multiple locations of the

Low Heat Release Upholstered Furniture

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

Publications

Improving the State-of-the-Art in Flow Measurements for Large-Scale Oxygen Consumption Calorimetry

May 6, 2021

Author(s)

Rodney Bryant, Matthew Bundy

The accuracy of the exhaust flow measurement contributes significantly to the uncertainty of calorimetry measurements for large fire testing. Less than ideal

Ignitibility of Structural Wood Products Exposed to Embers During Wildland Fires: A Review of Literature

April 27, 2021

Author(s)

Shonali Nazare, Isaac T. Leventon, Rick Davis

Ignitability of structural components due to ember accumulation is a common cause of structural fires in wildland urban interface (WUI) communities. To fire

Measuring the Impact of 16 CFR Part 1633 on Bed Fire Fatalities and Injuries in the United States

March 4, 2021

Author(s)

Stanley Gilbert, David Butry, Rick Davis, Richard Gann

Optimizing Flame Retardancy and Durability of Melamine-Formaldehyde/Solid-Urban-Waste Composite Panels

February 26, 2021

Author(s)

Mauro Zammarano, Carola Esposito Corcione, Francesca Ferrari, Raffaella Striani, Laura J. Dubrulle, Paolo Visconti, Antonio Greco

In our previous study, an innovative method for sterilization, inertization, and valorization of organic fraction of the municipal solid waste (OFMSW), to be

Software

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

Tools and Instruments

Fire Calorimetry Database (FCD)

The National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) operates calorimeters to measure the heat and combustion products for fires in the range of 50 kW to 20,000 kW

The National Fire Research Laboratory

The National Fire Research Laboratory (NFRL) is a unique experimental facility dedicated understanding fire behavior and structural response to fire. The