1 MATERIAL FIRE PROPERTIES J. G. Quintiere, J. Torero, R. T. Long 1 , S. E. Dillon 2 , N. Wu 3 and D. Heater Department of Fire Protection Engineering University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 ABSTRACT A description of fire properties is presented for common material products in terms of measurement methodology and their theoretical interpretation. Properties related to phenomena of ignition , flame spread, and burning rate are discussed. The properties include: thermal inertia, ignition temperature, heat of combustion, heat of gasification, total energy and opposed flow flame spread properties. An illustration of the importance of the properties in predicting fire growth is presented in a correlation of flashover time for the ISO 9705 room-corner test. The correlation shows a sharp threshold for flashover in terms of a correlating variable involving several properties related to upward flame spread. INTRODUCTION The ability to predict the performance of materials and products in fire requires models that can accurately represent the phenomenon, and measured properties of the material consistent with the models. Since most products, and even pure materials, display many physical and chemical changes in their degradation in fire, it is not practical to represent all of these effects in terms of fundamental processes and properties. The art of making successful predictions is to capture the key effects, and incorporate them into measurable properties and models that have universality and consistency. Other implicit effects ignored would then be swept into the properties. The properties to be considered might be regarded as pseudo-properties since they may characterize several phenomena, as distinct from well defined thermodynamic and transport properties. Tewarson (1988) has systematically shown how fire properties of materials can be measured in order to describe their evolution of smoke and energy under different fire conditions. Quintiere and Harkleroad (1984) have shown how measurements could be practically performed to characterize useful flame spread and ignition properties. Standard test apparatuses can be used to make these measurements; namely, the Factory mutual Flammability Apparatus (Tewarson, 1988), the Cone Calorimeter (ASTM E 1354), and the LIFT device (ASTM E 1321). However, the property measurements should not be apparatus dependent, and other comparable devices should be just as appropriate for making the measurements. Indeed, for some of the data presented here, the Roland apparatus developed by the LSF Laboratories (Su, 1997) was used as a larger version of the LIFT, and a smaller version was also used in a study for NASA (Long, 1998). 1 Currently with Exponent Failure Analysis Assoc. 2 Southwest Research Institute 3 Rolf Jensen and Assoc.