Flammability testing determines how easily a material or finished product will ignite or burn when exposed to or used near fire or heat.Flammability testing covers several different testing protocols and methods intended to measure a material’s vulnerability, including its susceptibility to an ignition source, its propensity to combust, and the rate at which it will burn when ignited.
The US, European Union (EU) and other countries have introduced regulations establishing minimum flammability requirements for many types of materials and finished products to reduce deaths and injuries associated with fires.
Carrying out a flame test
Clean a platinum or nichrome (a nickel-chromium alloy) wire by dipping it into concentrated hydrochloric acid and then holding it in a hot (non-luminous) Bunsen flame. Repeat this until the wire doesn't produce any colour in the flame.There will, in fact, always be a trace of orange in the flame if you use nichrome. You soon learn to ignore this. Platinum is much better to use, but is much, much more expensive.
If you have a particularly dirty bit of nichrome wire, you can just chop the end off. You don't do that with platinum!Dilute hydrochloric acid can be used instead of concentrated acid for safety reasons, but doesn't always give such intense flame colours.
If you have a particularly dirty bit of nichrome wire, you can just chop the end off. You don't do that with platinum!Dilute hydrochloric acid can be used instead of concentrated acid for safety reasons, but doesn't always give such intense flame colours.
When the wire is clean, moisten it again with some of the acid and then dip it into a small amount of the solid you are testing so that some sticks to the wire. Place the wire back in the flame again.
If the flame colour is weak, it is often worthwhile to dip the wire back in the acid again and put it back into the flame as if you were cleaning it. You often get a very short but intense flash of colour by doing that.