Radiative ignition of combustible materials - I. Polymeric materials undergoing nonflaming thermal degradation - The critical storage problem

The critical storage problem for a self-heating combustible material expose d to an external radiative heat source is investigated. The reaction kineti cs are defined in terms of a characteristic temperature and an activation e nergy, linking small-scale experimental techniques to medium-scale flammabi lity tests. The model is nondimensionalised in such a way that material pro perties of fundamental interest are retained as distinct continuation param eters. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.