A microscale combustion calorimeter study of gas phase combustion of polymers

A microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC) was modified to study gas phase combustion of polymers and flame-retardant plastics by adding carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) analyzers to the standard oxygen (O2) analyzer. Experiments were conducted on 22 hydrocarbon, heteroatom and halogen-containing polymers of known composition over a wide range of combustion temperatures and oxygen concentrations. At high temperatures and excess oxygen when combustion was complete, the oxygen consumed (ΔO2) and CO2 produced by combustion of the pyrolysis gases were in quantitative agreement with theoretical values for all of these charring and non-charring polymers. At lower combustor temperatures, halogen-containing polymers exhibited significantly reduced fuel oxidation rates, as evidenced by a shift in maximum ΔO2, CO and CO2 yields to much higher temperatures.