Characterization of thermal decomposition and combustion for commercial flame-retardant rubber floor cloth in TG-FTIR and FPA

The commercial flame-retardant rubber samples were investigated in a TG-FTIR with different heat rates and fire propagation apparatus under different external heat fluxes to study thermal and fire characteristics, respectively. The thermal decomposition, ignition time, heat release rate, limiting oxygen concentration, mass loss rate and CO/CO2 yield qualitatively and quantitatively are analyzed, respectively. It was found that the second main reaction of sample was the main decomposition process. The sample was recognized as thermal thin material. The first peak heat release rate of commercial flame-retardant rubber was lower than the second one due to the internally formed charred layer, and the sample would break into two pieces when the external heat flux was less than 40 kW m(-2). The limiting oxygen concentration of sample was gradually reducing with external heat flux increasing. The mass loss rate was effected by radiation heat blockage, thus the increase rate of mass loss rate would reduce under higher external heat flux. CO yield increased first and then decreased with the heat flux increasing. These data and models could be used to evaluate the fire risk of flame-retardant rubber for high-speed train department.