Fire Response of Organic Polymeric Materials (Organic Materials in Fire: Combustibility)
SourceOrganic polymeric materials exhibit a wide range of fire performance when evaluated separately. However, the performance of combinations of materials cannot always be predicted from the performance of individual materials tested separately.
The physical and thermal response characteristics of many materials, and of many combinations of materials, have a greater effect on their fire response characteristics than their chemical composition. For many generic materials, chemical composition changes may have reached the point of diminishing returns because combustibility cannot be reduced further without seriously affecting desirable performance characteristics.
Attention to the design and engineering aspects of materials may be the most cost-effective and in some cases the only means of ensuring their safe use.