Ignition Responses of Fifty Upholstery Fabrics to Commercial Cigarettes

Abstract

Fifty cellulosic upholstered furniture fabrics were purchased in the Richmond, Virginia area and tested to determine their ignition responses to eleven commercial cigarette brands. Six of the commercial brands (A-F) had been identified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), using their cotton duck substrate test method, as having reduced ignition propensity. The six cigarettes had "unconventional" 4 characteristics deemed by NIST as likely to lower cigarette ignition propensity: smaller circumference, lower permeability paper, and/or reduced paper citrate. On the cotton duck fabrics, these cigarettes were extinguished frequently. On the fifty upholstery fabrics, the cigarettes rarely were extinguished. NIST also tested fourteen "conventional, "5 best-selling brands that their cotton duck test method classified as "strong" igniters. Five brands (1-5) tested here on upholstery fabrics were also major commercial brands of "conventional" design. Testing of the fifty upholstery fabrics and eleven cigarettes followed the protocol developed by NIST with exceptions that upholstery fabrics replaced cotton ducks and polyethylene film was not used between fabrics and foam. Standard ANOVA analysis of ignition responses of the fifty upholstery fabrics showed that the two cigarette types, A-F and 1-5, were statistically similar: the differences in igni-'Current address: KC Automation, Inc., Richmond, VA. 'Current address: Philip Morris, Inc., Richmond, VA. 3Author to whom correspondence should be addressed at: Brown and Wilhamson Tobacco Corporation, PO. Box 630, Dinwiddie, VA 23841-0630. 4Filter cigarettes of 97-120 mm length and 17-22 mm circumference. 'Filter cigarettes of nominal 85 mm length and 25 mm circumference. Downloaded from 414 tions reported by NIST using cotton duck as the test fabric were not found with this broad range of actual upholstery fabrics. Differences in ignition responses among the fabrics did range from igniting in all tests to not igniting in any test, and from igniting more frequently with the six "lower ignition propensity" cigarette brands to more frequently with the five "conventional" ones.

The science behind the development and performance of reduced ignition propensity cigarettes

“…Although furniture covers are usually fabrics, some are synthetic and some are cellulosic-based materials, for various practical and technical reasons (Lewis et al 1990;Lewis et al 1993aLewis et al , 1993bLewis et al 1995aLewis et al , 1995bJupe et al 1995;Wanna et al 1996), the direct method with a cotton duck fabric was not pursued because of unavailability of the material. The indirect method was finally adopted by the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) as its standard (E2187-02b; hereafter E2187) ( …”

Potential alternate smoldering ignition sources: literature review with analysis

“…The types and mix of fibers used in a cover fabric comprise a key factor in the susceptibility of upholstered items to ignition by a cigarette. [105][106][107][108][109] Variation in ignition results has been demonstrated among different types of fabrics (e.g., varying with areal mass) [26,[110][111][112] and also for different types of cigarettes. [112] Variations in test results between apparently similar materials have also been reported [26,108,111,[113][114][115][116], indicating the need for careful control of the substrate materials used in developing alternates to SRM 1196.…”