Effects of sample orientation on the fire reaction properties of natural fibre composites

In this paper, comprehensive experimental and numerical analyses are carried out to compare the fire reaction properties of wool and flax based polypropylene composites under horizontal and vertical orientations. Moreover, extensive numerical analysis results on the fire reaction properties, burn time and surface temperature distribution have been reported. Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS (R)) was employed to develop a numerical predictive model for the cone calorimeter. The study revealed that vertical samples ignited later compared to the horizontal ones. In addition, it has been shown that fibre type has a significant effect on the heat release rate in horizontal and vertical tests. The surface temperature distributions showed similar trends for both composites.