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Search Publications by: Rick D. Davis (Fed)

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Displaying 1 - 25 of 91

The Impact of Material Composition on Ignitability and Fire Growth. Volume 1: Full-Scale Burning Behavior of Combustible Solids Commonly Found in Nuclear Power Plants

February 13, 2024
Author(s)
Isaac Leventon, Michael Heck, Kevin B. McGrattan, Matthew Bundy, Rick D. Davis
This report provides an overview of quantitative measurement data and visual observations obtained from a series of 52 full-scale fire growth experiments conducted on 16 unique combustible solids including: natural and synthetic polymers, copolymers

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Firefighter Turnout Gear Textiles Exposed to Abrasion, Elevated Temperature, Laundering, or Weathering

January 16, 2024
Author(s)
Andrew Maizel, Andre Thompson, Meghanne Tighe, Samuel Escobar Veras, Alix Rodowa, Ryan Falkenstein-Smith, Bruce A. Benner Jr., Kathleen Hoffman, Michelle K. Donnelly, Olivia Hernandez, Nadine Wetzler, Trung Ngu, Jessica Reiner, Benjamin Place, John Kucklick, Kate Rimmer, Rick D. Davis
Textiles used in the construction of structural firefighter turnout gear jackets and pants have been found to contain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as well as fluoropolymer membranes and treatments containing fluorinated polymers. Additionally

Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in New Firefighter Turnout Gear Textiles

May 1, 2023
Author(s)
Andrew Maizel, Andre Thompson, Meghanne Tighe, Samuel Escobar Veras, Alix Rodowa, Ryan Falkenstein-Smith, Bruce A. Benner Jr., Kathleen Hoffman, Michelle K. Donnelly, Olivia Hernandez, Nadine Wetzler, Trung Ngu, Jessica Reiner, Benjamin Place, John Kucklick, Kate Rimmer, Rick D. Davis
Turnout gear is increasingly recognized as a potential source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure to firefighters. To determine the type, concentration, and prevalence of PFAS potentially present in new firefighter turnout gear, fifty

Characteristics of Nuclear Power Plant Fires Involving Electrical Enclosures

November 10, 2021
Author(s)
Isaac Leventon, Kenneth Hamburger, Kevin B. McGrattan, Rick D. Davis
PRIMARY AUDIENCE Fire protection and fire probabilistic risk assessment engineers conducting or reviewing fire modeling that supports fire probabilistic risk assessments related to characteristics (e.g., ignition, fire growth, and peak heat release rate)

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

November 18, 2020
Author(s)
Stanley W. Gilbert, David Butry, Rick D. Davis, Richard 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 from mattresses and foundations when ignited by a flaming ignition source. This study estimates

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 substantially to the decrease in losses from cigarette-initiated fires over time. Two Standard

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-fire formation, etc.) of composite specimens including a fire barrier (FB) and a flammable core

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

April 28, 2020
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 output from mattresses and foundations that had been ignited by a flaming ignition source

Environmental Friendly Flame Resistant Coatings for Soft Furnishing

May 1, 2019
Author(s)
Yeon S. Kim, Yu-Chin Li, John R. Shields, Rick D. Davis
Pending flammability regulations and scrutinizing of the environment and health consequences of fire retardants is creating opportunities for novel and “greener” technologies to reduce the flammability of residential furniture. This presentation will

Development of High Throughput Methods for Polymer Flammability Property Characterization

February 19, 2017
Author(s)
Jeffrey W. Gilman, Rick D. Davis, John R. Shields, D Wentz, L D. Brassell, A B. Morgan, R Lyon, J E. Zanetto
Recently we have developed several new high throughput (HT) methods to quantitatively evaluate the flammability of flame retarded (FR) polymers. The most recent results are due to the efforts of the High Throughput Methods for Materials Flammability

Dielectric Spectroscopy During Extrusion Processing of Polyamide-6 Nanocomposites

February 19, 2017
Author(s)
Rick D. Davis, Anthony J. Bur, Jeffrey W. Gilman, Young Jong Lee, P R. Start
During extrusion processing dielectric spectroscopy was conducted on polyamide-6 (PA6) and organoclay/polyamide-6 nanocomposites. Off-line curve fitting of the on-line dielectric data generated dielectric dispersion parameters that appear sensitive to

High Throughput Methods for Rapidly Developing Additive Filled Polymers

February 19, 2017
Author(s)
Rick D. Davis, Jeffrey W. Gilman, Marc R. Nyden, John R. Shields, Richard H. Harris Jr., W Demory
The high throughput mindset has been our approach to rapidly synthesize, characterize, and analyze additive filled polymers. For example, rather than taking a week to extrude polystyrene strands with 0% to 10% integer amounts of organically modified clay

Measurements of the Photolytic Breakdown of Decabromodiphenyl Ether in Plastics

February 19, 2017
Author(s)
Marc R. Nyden, Rick D. Davis, Christopher C. White, H M. Stapleton, Nathan G. Dodder
In this talk, we report the product distributions and decomposition rates of DecaBDE when it is incapsulated in a common plastic, high impact polystyrene, and irradiated under controlled conditions using a calibrated source. The objective is to gain

Use of Optical Probes and Laser Scanning Confocal Fluorescence Microscopy for High Throughput Characterization of Dispersion in Polymer Layered Silicate Nanocomposites

February 19, 2017
Author(s)
Jeffrey W. Gilman, Rick D. Davis, S Bellayer, P H. Maupin, Raghavan Dharmara, Joseph Langat, S Bourbigot, X Flambard, D M. Fox, Paul C. Trulove, Hugh C. De Long
The development of high throughput methods for studying polymer layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSN) is motivated by the fact that these materials represent a multiple parameter problem. We have developed a HT platform for the study of thermoplastic

Epoxy Composites Using Wood Pulp Components as Fillers

November 30, 2016
Author(s)
Douglas M. Fox, Noy Kaufman, Jeremiah W. Woodcock, Jeffrey W. Gilman, John R. Shields, Rick D. Davis, Szabolcs Matko, Mauro Zammarano, Chelsea S. Davis
The components of wood, especially lignin and cellulose, have great potential for improving the properties of polymer composites. In this chapter, we discuss some of the latest developments from our lab on incorporating wood based materials into epoxy

Smoldering and Flame Resistant Textiles via Conformal Barrier Formation

November 2, 2016
Author(s)
Mauro Zammarano, Shonali Nazare, John R. Shields, Kathleen M. Hoffman, Rick D. Davis
A durable and flexible silicone-based backcoating (halogen and formaldehyde free) is applied to the backside of an otherwise smoldering-prone and flammable fabric. When exposed to fire, cyclic siloxanes (produced by thermal decomposition of the backcoating