The effect of oxygen concentration on selected industrial products in the open controlled atmosphere cone calorimeter

Past research on the effect of oxygen concentration on the heat release rate and car-bon monoxide yield has focused on materials in isolation and there is a lack ofresearch that studies end-use products. This paper investigates the effect of oxygenconcentration on the heat release rate per unit area (HRRPUA) and carbon monoxideyield for two different cables and a mineral oil used as an operating fluid for vacuumpumps. A standard cone calorimeter was used to conduct the tests at an ambientoxygen concentration of 21% and an open controlled atmosphere cone calorimeter(OCACC) was used for the tests conducted below 21%. The OCACC allows cone cal-orimeter tests to be run at different oxygen concentrations by attaching a chamberto the standard cone calorimeter. The effects of oxygen concentration on theHRRPUA and carbon monoxide yield for the cables were limited when there wasflaming over the entire exposed surface area. For the mineral oil, there was a largedecrease in the HRPPUA at a reduced oxygen concentration, but the carbon monox-ide yield appeared to be unaffected.