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

Fire Research Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Fire Research Grants and Cooperative Agreements support extramural work to reduce the total burden of fire on the U.S. economy, which is estimated as greater

Advanced Gas-Phase Fire Retardants Project

There is high motivation in industry to replace the widely used brominated fire retardants (and their antimony synergist). In order to aid in the development

Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings Program

The research in this program (Fire Risk Reduction in Buildings, FRRiB) will enable reductions in the two single largest components of this U.S. structure fire

Measurement of Structural Performance in Fire

The National Fire Research Laboratory at National Institute of Standards and Technology is a unique facility that enables scientists and engineers to conduct

Publications

Full-Scale Experiments to Demonstrate Flammability Risk of Residential Upholstered Furniture and Mitigation Using Barrier Fabric

December 11, 2020

Author(s)

Mauro Zammarano, Matthew S. Hoehler, John R. Shields, Andre L. Thompson, Ickchan Kim, Isaac T. Leventon, Matthew F. Bundy

In this work, we investigated fire growth in a furnished compartment intended to mimic a living room where a couch was the main fuel load. Three TB-117-2013

The Roles of Standard Cigarettes in Assuring the Ignition Resistance of Soft Furnishings

November 18, 2020

Author(s)

Richard G. Gann, Ickchan Kim, Steven P. Lund, William F. Guthrie, Rick D. Davis

Regulations for cigarette ignition resistance (CIR) of soft furnishings (beds and upholstered furniture) and less fire-prone cigarettes have contributed

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

November 18, 2020

Author(s)

Stanley W. Gilbert, David T. Butry, Rick D. Davis, Richard G. Gann

Effective July 1, 2007, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission promulgated a standard to severely reduce the heat release rate and the early heat output

Reduced-Scale Test to Assess the Effect of Fire Barriers on the Flaming Combustion of Cored Composites: an Upholstery-Material Case Study

September 4, 2020

Author(s)

Mauro Zammarano, John R. Shields, Isaac T. Leventon, Ickchan Kim, Shonali Nazare, Andre L. Thompson, Rick D. Davis, Artur A. Chernovsky, Matthew F. Bundy

In this work, we describe a reduced-scale test (Cube test), based on cone calorimetry, measuring the fire performance (heat release rate, propensity to pool

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