Numerical Simulation of Polymeric Materials in UL 94 Test: Competition Between Gasification and Melt Flow / Dripping

Published

July 5, 2010

Author(s)

Kathryn M. Butler, Florian Kempel, Bernhard Schartel, Anja Hofmann, Eugenio O?, Sergio R. Idelsohn, Riccardo Rossi, Julio M. Marti

Abstract

The capability of the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM, developed by CIMNE) to model the complex fire behaviour of polymers in the UL 94 scenario was investigated. For validation, a series of four PC/ABS blends were chosen, which covered different UL 94 classifications due to the competing effects of gasification, charring, flame inhibition and melt flow/dripping. The materials were characterized thoroughly; in particular, the impact of the additive bisphenol A bis(diphenyl phosphate) (BDP) and polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) on the rheological properties was determined. The comparison of simulation and experiment showed that PFEM was able to reproduce the dripping and non-dripping behaviour of PC/ABS and PC/ABS+PTFE, respectively. Furthermore the simulated mass loss agreed very well with the experimental results, indicating that PFEM is a powerful numerical tool for the simulation of polymers in the UL 94 scenario.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 2010 Interflam Conference

Conference Dates

July 5-7, 2010

Conference Location

Nottingham

Conference Title

Interflam 2010

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

fire behavior, polymeric materials, thermoplastic materials, dripping, particle finite element method, UL94 test

Citation

Butler, K. , Kempel, F. , Schartel, B. , Hofmann, A. , O?, E. , Idelsohn, S. , Rossi, R. and Marti, J. (2010), Numerical Simulation of Polymeric Materials in UL 94 Test: Competition Between Gasification and Melt Flow / Dripping, Proceedings of the 2010 Interflam Conference, Nottingham, -1, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=905657 (Accessed May 4, 2024)