A cone calorimeter is a fire test tool that is based on the amount of heat released during the combustion process directly related to the oxygen consumption in the combustion process. The amount of heat generated is directly proportional to the severity of the fire, such as the rate of fire growth. In order to obtain the flammability of the material, this is exposed to an external radiation heat source. Therefore, since this is a forced combustion test, the cone value is generally considered to reflect the second ignitability of the ignition.

Standards:

ISO5660,

ASTM E 1354, 

ASTM E 1474, 

ASTM E 1740, 

ASTM F 1550, 

ASTM D 6113, 

NFPA 264, 

CAN ULC 135, 

BS 476

Scope of application:

The Cone Calorimeter is the most significant bench scale instrument in the field of fire testing.

A full system consists of:

◆ Conical Heater - wound in the form of a truncated cone, rated 5000 W at 230 V with a heat output of 100 kW/m2.

◆ Facility for testing horizontally or vertically orientated specimens

◆ Temperature control by the use of 3 type K thermocouples and a 3-term (PID) temperature controller.

◆ A Split Shutter Mechanism - protects the sample area before the test.This ensures the initial mass measurement is stable and the operator has additional time for system checks before starting the test.This added time is very important for easily-ignitable samples, which often ignite prematurely if a shutter mechanism is not used.

◆ Specimen Holders - for specimens 100mm x 100mm up to 50mm thick, in the horizontal and vertical orientation.

◆ Load Cell - mass measurements are conducted via a strain gauge load cell with an accuracy of 0.01g. Fitted with a quick electronic tare facility and mechanical stops to avoid movement damage, give stable results and long life.

◆ Spark Ignition - by 10 kV spark generator fitted with a safety cut-out device.The igniter is automatically positioned by a lever linked with the shutter mechanism.

◆ Exhaust System - manufactured from stainless steel for long life.This comprises: hood, gas sampling ring probe, exhaust fan (with adjustable flow controls from 0-50g/s, at a resolution of at least 0.1g/s) and an orifice plate flow measurement (thermocouple and differential pressure transducer). Normal operation is at a nominal 24 l/s.

◆ Gas Sampling - comprising particulate filters, refrigerated cold trap, pump, drying columns and flow control.

◆ Oxygen Analysis - paramagnetic oxygen analyser, which has a range of 0-25% and a performance compliant with the standards.

◆ Smoke Obscuration - measured with a laser system, using photodiodes, and a 0.5 mW Helium Neon laser, with main and reference (compensating) photo detectors. Supplied with alignment cradle and 0.3, 0.8 neutral density filters for calibration.

◆ Heat Flux Meter - for setting the irradiance level at the surface of the specimens.

◆ Calibration Burner - to calibrate the rate of heat release measured by the apparatus using methane of 99.5% purity.

◆ Data Acquisition – Agilent Data Acquisition / Switch Unit featuring a 3-slot cardcage with 61/2 digit (22 bit) internal DMM enabling up to 120 single-ended or 48 double- ended measurements. Scan rates up to 250 channels/s are available with a 115kbaud RS232 and PCI GPIB interface as standard. All readings are automatically time stamped and can be stored in a non-volatile 50,000-reading memory.