a AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS 1916 Race St, Philadelphi vstea Nine from the Annes! Book of ASTM. Sundar, Cpyrishe AST Standard Method for MEASURING THE DENSITY OF SMOKE FROM THE BURNING OR DECOMPOSITION OF PLASTICS’ This Standard is usd under the Sued designation D 243: the umber immedi ftowing the designation ics the yea of ois adoption or nie ase Teron, te ear ole fvson. A number ft pareiheces nates the Sara lat reapprva 1. Seope 1.1 This method covers a laboratory proce- dure for measuring and observing the relative amounts of smoke produced by the burning or decomposition of plastis. It is intended to be used for measuring the smoke producing char- acteristics of plastics under controlled condi- tions of combustion or decomposition, Corre- lation with other fire conditions is not neces sarily implied. The measurements are made in terms of the loss of light transmission through a collected volume of smoke produced under controled, standardized conditions. The apparatus is constructed so that the flame and smoke can be observed during the test.” Norel—The values stated in USS, customary units are to be regarded asthe standard. The metre auivalents of U.S. customary unite may be appro 2. Significance 2.1 Tests made on a material under condi- tions herein prescribed can be of considerable value in comparing the relative smoke gener ating characteristics of plastics 2.2 This method serves to determine the extent to which plastic materials are likely to smoke under conditions of active burning and decomposition inthe presence of flame, Nore2—The visual and instrumental observ tions from this test compare: well with the visual tbyervations of the smoke generated by plastic m= fedals whea added to\a freely burning, large out door fre 2.3 The usefulness of this test procedure is {nits ability to measure the amount of smoke produced in a simple, direct, and meaningful manner under the specified conditions. The degree of obscuration of vision by smoke gen- crated by combustibles can be substantially alfected by changes in quantity and form of material, humidity, draft, temperature, and the supply of oxygen, 3. Summary of Method 3.1 The test specimen is exposed to Name for the duration of the test and the smoke is substantially trapped in the chamber in which combustion occurs. A 25 by 25 by 6-mm (1 by by cin.) specimen is placed on a support- ing metal screen and burned in a laboratory test chamber (Fig.-1) under active flame con- ditions using a propane burner operating at @ pressure of 2.8 kgf/em* (40 psi). The 300 by 300 by 790-mm (12 by 12 by 3-in.) test chamber is instrumented with a light source, a photoelectric cell, and a meter to measure light absorption horizontally across the 300- mm (12-in.) light beam path. The chamber is closed during the 4-min test period except for the 25-mm (Lin.) high ventilation openings around the bottom. 3.2 The light absorption data are plotted versus time, A typical plot is shown in Fig. 2. 12 pated ane he rion of ASTM Com {e'found in the ASTM Yearbook, Ths standard he 6 {Se ragumsip of Sakomnitiee B05 on Then Tres to. 30, 1970. ity, NPBA Quarter GNEPA al Sharan EL 2 16 Reogte MEP GUG5. NA, ery " Rargy FJ. and Barto, A. J, “Evasion ofthe xp2 Smoke Deisty Chanter Symposium on ie Tet Meod Resa’ & Smoke: ASTM STF 12. Am. Sx FSS 000251 &EIS LAT, ‘ah Two indexes ate used to rate the material ‘maximum smoke produced, and the smoke density rating 4. Apparatus 41 The smoke chamber shall be cone ‘trwoted essentially as shown in Fig, L 41.1 Chamber 41.1.1 The chamber shall consist of « Me sage (B & S) 300 by 300 by 790-mm (12 by 12 by 3I-in,) aluminum box to which is hinged a heat-resistant glass glazed door. This box shall be mounted on a 350 by 400 by S7-mm (14 by 16 by 2'/rin.) base which houses the controls. Dependent upon the materials tested, the ‘metal may require protection from corrosion 4.1.1.2 The chamber shall be sealed except for 25 by 230-mm (1 by 9-in,) openings on the four sides of the bottom of the chamber. A 1/00-ters/aiin (60-FC min) blower shall be ‘wounted an one side of the chamber. The ine let duet to the blower shall be equipped with a iose fitting damper. The outlet of the blower stall be connected through a duct to the labo ratory exhaust system. If the chamber is in a ventilated hood, no connection to the lab ex- haust system through a duct is needed. 4.1.1.3 The two sides adjacent to the door shall be fitted with 70-mm (2/cin.) diameter smoke-tight glazed areas centered. 480. mm (19% in.) above the base, At these locations and outside the chamber, boxes containing the ‘optical equipment and additional controls shall be attached. 4.1.14 A removable white plastic plate shall be attached to the back of the chamber. ‘There shall be a 90 by 130mm (3"/s by 6-in) clear area centered about 480 mm above the bottom of the chamber through which is scen an illuminated white-on-ced exit sign. The white background permits observation of the fiame, smoke, and burning characteristics of the material. The viewing of the exit sign helps to correlate visibility and measured val 4.1.2 Specimen Holder: 4.12.1 The specimen shall be supported on 8 64mm (2'/-in.) squate of 6 by 6mm, 0.9. mm gage (i by '/-in 0.035-in, gage) staine less steel wire cloth 220 mm (8°/. in.) above the base and equidistant from all sides of the chamber. This screen shall lie ina stainless steel berel supported by a rod through the 2843, ah el te nts to eer 1 Re ane ey Pressure of 2.8 kgf/cm’ (40 psi), The fuel Siam Witt neyo snc tecnico arc nana eh wr teach od aye ror cer eon Bie ihe orice Poss the metering sO ken that oie ie Pe mi movers pas an 2 a dae atk mete Bo ions a wt Aes 6 $50 erent mini {he smoke chamber made by George Eysesbach, 315 Western Avenue, itl Pa, IBD ects oe egies IEA of ths tho Detail awa ot hg ee Shimber age aio arabic ata ‘samira oa fost AS American Society for Teg and Mahe 1910 Rack Sc"Phnaihi, Pe 19lb sated meter shall be used to measure the pro- portion of a light beam which penetrates a 300-mm (12-in.) path through the smoke, The light path shall be arranged horizontally as shown in Pig. 4, 4.1.42 The light source shall be mounted in a box (4 BI in Fig, !) extending from the left side of the chamber at the mean height of 480 mm (19°), in.) above the base. The light source shall be a compact filament microscope amp No, 1493" operated at 5.8 V and a spher ical reflector, with power supplied by a vot age regulating transformer. A 60 to 65-mm (2 Yin.) focal length lens shall focus a spot of light on the photocell in the right instrument panel 4.143 Another box containing the pho- tometer (¢ B2 in Fig. 1) shall be attached to the right side of the chamber. The barrier layer photoelectric ell shall have standard observer spectral response. An epg-crate grid front of the photocell shall be used to pro- tect the cell from stray light. The grid shall be finished in dull black and have openings at Teast twice as deep as they are wide, The eure rent produced by the photocell is indicated in terms of percent light absorption on a meter. ‘The photocell linearity decreases as the tem perature increases; compensations shall there- Tore be made Nore S. Photocell manufacturers recommend ‘operating the photocell at temperatures no exceed ‘p30 dC 2 4.144 The meter shall have two ranges. ‘The range change shall be accomplished by shunting the meter to one tenth of its sensitiv= ity. When smoke accumulates to absorb 90 percent of the light beam, a momentary switch shall be depressed returning the meter to its basic sensitivity. By doing this the meter scale now reads from 90 to 100 percent in- stead of Oto 100 percent 41.5 Timing Device A clock to indicate 15.5 intervals shall be used. Ifthe time inter- vals are audibly marked it will be convenient for the operator to record his observations, A clutch shall be used to reset the clock at the start of a test, The block shall be coupled to the burner-positioning device and it shall start ‘when the burner is swung into test position 4.1.6 Planimeter—A planimeter ot other suitable means shall be used for measuring 2843 the area under the light-absorption curve. 5. Test Specimen 5.1 The standard specimen shall be 25.4 + 03 by 25.4 + 0.3 by 62 40.3 mm (I 001 by 1 0.01 by Ys 4 001 in). Thicknesses ‘ther than 6.2 mm (Js in.) may be used and their size must be reported with the smoke density values (Note 6). Material thinner thon 62 mm ('/, in.) may be tested cither in its normal use thickness or by stacking and form: ing & composite specimen approximately 62 mim (Ys in) thick, Material thicker than 6.2 mmm (7/; in.) may be tested either in its nor mal use thickness or by machining the mate rial down to a thickness of 6.2 mm (Yin). Nore6—If specimens other than the stuodard men are to be used, cooperating laboratories fold agres upon preparation procedures and. die Inensiont of the spetimen. The evs sm such cases miay vary from We results obtained ith the sand ard specimen. 5.2 The specimens shall be sanded, mar chined, or die cut in a manner that produces ‘cut surface that is free from projecting fibers, chips, and ridges. 5.3 The test sample shall consist of three specimens, 6. Conditioning 6.1 Conditioning Condition the test speci mens at 23 + 2.C (73.4 = 3.6 F) and 50 4 5 percent relative humidity for not less than 40 hi prior to test in accordance with Procedure A ‘of ASTM Methods D 618, Conditioning Plas tics and Electrical Insulating Materials for Testing, for those tests where conditioning is required. In cases of disagreement, the toler- ances shall be £1 C (-¢1.8 F) and 2 percent relative humidity 6.2 Test Conditions Conduct tests in the Standard Laboratory Atmosphere of 23 = 2 C (734 a 3.6 F) and 50 + 5 percent relative humidity, unless otherwise specified in the test methods or in this specifiation, In cases ‘of disagreement, the tolerances shall be £1 C (418 F) and £2 percent relative humidity. 6.3 Tests shall be conducted in a hood that has & window for observing the test. The micocipe lamps No, 1493 ate manutd by Genera Eesre Compan, Westinghouse, std othe nual Book of ASTAEStondardy, Past‘lb 7. Procedure 7.1 Turn on the photometer lamp, exit sign, and exhaust blower 7.2 Turn on the propane, ignite the burner, and adjust the propane pressure to 2.8 kel/ cm’ (40 psi). Caution—Do not fail to light the burner immediatly. 17.3 ‘Set the temperature compensation 7A Adjust the lamp control to zero percent light absorption, 7.5 Lay the test specimen flat on the sereen in such a position that the burner flame will be directly under the specimen when the burner is swung into position 746 Set the timer to zero. 7.7 Shut off the exhaust blower, close the smoke chamber door, and immediately post tion the burner under the specimen and start the timer. 7.8 If in a hood, shut off the hood fan and close the hood door to within 50 mm (2 in) Of the bottom of the hood. 7.9 Record the percent light absorbed at 15.5 intervals for 4 min 7.10 Record observations during the con- duct of the test, Include the time it takes for the sample to burst into lame, the time for flame extinguishment or specimen consump- tion, the obscuration of the exit sign by smoke accumulation, and any general or unusual burning characteristics noted such as melting, dripping, foaming, or charring 7.11 Upon completion of the test, turn on the exhaust blower to ventilate the combusion products from the chamber. Nove tt should be noted that for some mater als the products of Burning may be tone an Care should be taken to guard the operator from the of fees ofthese gases The ventilating fam nthe hood ‘Soul be ture andthe dames opened imme Atately afer the test completed belore opening the hood door in order tor remove. any eating Podts of the test The exhaust faa redo El the heed damper closed uring the test to pe vent back deat 7.12 Open the door and clean the combus: tion deposits from the photometer, exit sign, and door glass with detergent and water. Burn off any material remaining on the sereen oF replace the screen and asbestos square for the next est, 7.13 Rumall tests in triplicate 7:14 At the beginning of each series or at least once a day, check the light absorption of 2843 the meter against a calibrated neutral filter of approximately 50 percent absorption.’ Check the 100 percent absorption point against an opaque plate 8, Optional Procedures 8.1 The output of the photocell may be re- corded versus time on an appropriate graphic recorder." 82 With a suitably sensitive meter, more than one decade change may be used to sepa rate readings in the very dense smoke range. 9. Treatment of Data 9.1 Average the readings at 15-5 intervals of light absorption for the three specimens in each group. Plot the average light absorption against time on linear paper, Fig. 2 is a sam- ple curve 9.2 Read the maximum smoke density as the highest point on the curve 9.3 Determine the total smoke produced by ‘measuring the area under the curve. The smoke density rating represents the total amount of smoke present in the chamber for the 4-min time interval, Measure the total smoke produced by the area under the curve of light absorption versus time, divided by the total area of the graph, 0-4 min, 0-100 per- cent light absorption, times 100, Notes: Evample to the light absorptiontime plot in Fig. 2, the plot has been made ysing 10 mms {0.39 n)equat t 10 percent asthe ordinate and 10 ‘mm (0.39 in) equal to 0.23 min asthe absica, The raph area for min ts found to be 16.000 rum (480 ins), The area under the curve is found to be 12.610 mm’ (19.35 in). The smoke density rating iS then computed a follows Smoke density rating. percent "(3610/6000 x 100 = 78.8 dimensions in milimeters), = (1985/2480) x 100 = 788 {dimensions te inches) 10, Report 10.1 The report shall include the following: 10.1.1 Identification of the material, cont les Xl Fier Nt, Fh Sarma ‘0802, and No, 96 Wratten Neutral Density Fler {Neatea Densiy'09) 3 by Si comemat 8 Geos a eee Melly toa Rot Stes na oral etoperee grins cer hod! 13301- sin, Pay has proven stabi, RIMBof Prueah 10.1.2 Dimensions of the specimen, 10.1.3 Readings of light absorption at 15-s intervals for each test and average, 10.1.4 Plots of average light absorption versus time, 10.1.5 Maximum smoke density in percent light absorption, 1.1.6 Area in percent under the light ab- sorption-time curve (smoke density rating), 10.1.7 Observations on behavior of materi a 10.1.8 Observations on obscurement of exit sign, and 10.19 The details of any departure from the specifications of the method for testing AL, Prect IL The following criteria should be used 2843 in judging acceptability of smoke density rat- ing data, 112 RepeatabilityTwo individual results (not averages) determined by a single opera- tor in one laboratory should not be considered suspect (at 95 percent confidence level) unless they differ by more than 18 percent absolut. 11.3 Reproducibility—Two results from 2843Light Absorption in Percent bv 2eas 100 20 ° COS 0g os oes 0g seo Time in Minutes FIG. 2 Light Absarton verse Tine© + L TAPERED ALUMINUM BUSHING u % SLIDING SLEEVE PROPANE TUBE ALR TUBE FIG. 3 xed View f Barer. ie HEX SOCKET SET SCRE = WL,sowaisey 1219885. 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