SURFACE-TEMPERATURE AT IGNITION OF WOODEN BASED SLABS

Up to now, a sufficiently developed ignition theory is not available f or wood slabs and other combustible building materials in the form of layers. Very often, the concept of surface ignition temperature as a m aterial characteristic is used, especially when related to fire modell ing. Measurements of surface temperature at ignition during cone calor imeter rests for several plywoods and particle board in the horizontal and vertical configurations are presented here. It was found that the surface temperature at ignition depends not only on the material prop erties but also strongly on the experimental conditions (irradiation, sample configuration). There is evidence that two different mechanisms control ignition in the horizontal and vertical orientations of the s amples. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.