Evaluation of Flame Retardancy of Cardboards Products—Aiming for Application to Cardboard Beds in Shelters

Abstract

Japan is a country with many disasters such as earthquakes and heavy rains. Disasters cannot be prevented, however, efforts to reduce secondary damage was performed by the nation. Sleeping without beds in a shelter has a high prevalence of economy class syndrome. Due to the living environment of shelter, cots were introduced to each local government. As a result, cots were able to prevent hypothermia and freezing death. Shelters in cold regions use powerful heating devices, which lowers humidity and increases the risk of fire. Cardboard beds were made from paper so that, the user was not completely convinced of the fire risk. In this study, we investigated the combustion behavior and effects of flame-retardants on cardboard by combustion test and thermal analysis. Phosphorus-Nitrogen flame-retardant was possible to suppress the combustion which emitted a large amount of carbon monoxide.