My project Information

What I Learned

Table 1 shows the effect of burning on flame retardant fibres.

Fibre Time to burst into Notes

Flame (in seconds)

Cotton 4.8 cotton ignites easily. It Burns with a bright flame, and smells like burning paper and leaves a white, feathery ash.

Silk 7.6 Silk shrinks from the flame, it is hard to ignite and splutters as it burns. It smells like burning meat or flesh and leaves a crisp, foamy residue. 50/50 cotton/ Polyester 10.0

Polyester shrinks away from the flame source initially, but eventually burns with a flame. As it burns, the melting fibre holds The heat and makes a molten ball of plastic. This is very hot. Fireproofing clothes

Flammable clothes can be very dangerous. It is now possible to coat fibres with flame retardant or flame resistant substances.

Flame retardant means that the fabric will burn slowly and may self-extinguish (go out by itself) when the source of heat or flame is removed.

Flame resistant means that a fibre is difficult to ignite or catch fire. Flame resistant fibres may also be flame retardant. Some of the flame retardant or resistant substances used produce a gas that keeps the oxygen away from the fabric, and so the flame is smothered. Other substances form a non-flammable coating over the fibre. It is important to realise that all flame resistant clothing will still eventually burn. The flame resistance offers a small margin of safety that allows a person extra time to put out the fire or remove the clothes.

Table 1: Burning Characteristics of Fibers

cotton/linen Burns with a hot, vigorous flame, light colored smoke, and leaves red glowing ember after flaming stops. Does not melt or draw away from the flames.

rayon/lyocell Burns similarly to cotton and linen, except that it may shrink up and become tighter to the body.

Acetate burns with a rapid flame and melts when burning. May melt and pull away from small flames without igniting. Melted area may drip off the clothing carrying flames with it. When flames have died out, the residue is a hot, molten plastic and is difficult to remove from any surface.

Acrylic burns similarly to acetate, except that it burns with a very heavy, dense, black smoke. It drips excessively.

Nylon, Burns slowly and melts when burning. May melt

Lastol, and pull away from small flames without igniting.

Olefin, Melted area may drip off clothing carrying flames

Polyester, with it but not to the extent of acetate and acrylic. and spandex Residue is molten and hot and difficult to remove. May self-extinguish.

Wool and silk Burns slowly and is difficult to ignite (especially in winter garments). May self-extinguish.

Modacrylic Burns very slowly with melting. May melt and and saran pull away from small flames without igniting. Self extinguishes.

Aramid, novoloid, Chars, does not burn.

What I Learned From this Project

I learnt that when you heat the clothes up the particles get closer and that makes it harder to burn because it shrank.

Research paper on Flammable and Non- Flammable clothing