Development of an improved fabric flammability test

by Fay, Terry Stephen.

The Navy Clothing and Textile Research Facility (NCTRF) has been conducting fabric research for many decades. This project is a joint effort in establishing new test methods for evaluating the thermal protection garments provide. As a result of this project a new full scale test facility was constructed and is now operational. In this facility, a new traversing manikin test has been developed and will hopefully become a recognized test standard in the future. The traversing manikin test is designed to work with current test methods but also to provide a more detailed evaluation of a garment. Incorporated into the facility is the ability to reconfigure the fire source to recreate design fires that resemble those likely to occur onboard naval ships. While the data gather thus far is limited, it is believed with future testing a large set of data will be available to allow a cross comparison of this test with established test methods. ii Preface I would like to thank my advisor Professor Jonathan Barnett, for introducing me to the field of Fire Protection Engineering and for helping to make this project possible. In addition I would like to thank my reader Professor John Woycheese for taking time to help me with this document. I would like to thank Alden Research Labs for the help in construction of the test facility especially Dead White and Brian Pierce. In addition, I greatly appreciate the efforts of Bob Taylor and Jim Johnson at WPI for their knowledge and assistance with technical aspects of the construction. And a special thanks to Jay Ierardi for providing insight whenever I needed assistance. And of course, without the student volunteers who have assisted in the operation of the Fire Test Facility, we would not have been able to conduct any of the fire tests. iii