The OSU Heat Release Unit as a Screening Tool for California TB 133

Abstract

The California TB 133 (TB 133) full-scale burn test was adopted by Illinois and Minnesota in 1990 as a performance standard for furniture to be used in places of public occupancy. TB 133 will become effective in California on January 1,1992 and is under consideration in Ohio and several other states. Since full-scale burn tests are expensive, we embarked on a program to deter mine if the OSU Heat Release Unit could be used as a screening test for TB 133.

The percentage weight loss of foam/fabric composites after ten minutes in the OSU Unit at a radiant heat flux of 1.0 Watt/cm² appears to be a good predictor of TB 133 performance. A series of 39 upholstery fabric/melamine-modified polyurethane foam composites were tested in BASF Corporation's Wyandotte, Michigan TB 133 burn facility and in our OSU Heat Release Unit. We found:

· 11 of 12 samples which clearly failed the Cal TB 133 test lost over 40% of their weight at a heat flux of 1.0 Watt/cm² in the OSU test.

· 22 of 23 samples which clearly passed the Cal TB 133 test lost less than 40% of their weight at 1.0 Watt/cm².

· Four samples marginally passed the Cal TB 133 test and their weight loss values could not be correlated.

The TB 133 criteria adopted in mid 1990 was used for this series of tests rather than the newer criteria using oxygen consumption calorimetry. All of the TB 133 failures in this study were due to weight loss using fabric-covered foam cushions on a metal test frame. No side arms were used. Work is continu ing to determine whether this correlation can be extended to other foam/fabric combinations.