Comparison of fire behaviors of thermally thin and thick rubber latex foam under bottom ventilation

Abstract

Fire behaviors of rubber latex foam under different thickness conditions (d = 1, 2, and 5 cm) were explored by using a self-built small-scale experimental platform. It can be shown that the flame spread menchanism of thermally thin and thermally thick rubber latex foam is different. Rubber latex foam with a thickness of 2 cm shows higher fire risk, whose value of flame spread rate, maximum flame height, maximum mass loss rate, and maximum temperature are 2.93 × 10 -3 m/s, 851.88 mm, and 1.83 g/s, 948.00 °C, respectively. On the one hand, this may due to the different mechanisms of flame spread, resulting in different preheating zones on the surface. On the other hand, this may because the thickness of residue formed by thermally thick materials is larger than the thin ones, obstructing the contact of the rubber latex foam with fresh air. In addition, a special phenomenon is noticed during the stage II, where the bottom unburned zone is located in the four edges (thermally thin material) and middle player (thermally thick material).