Smoke emission is one of the basic elements for characterizing
a fire environment. The combustion conditions
Dr. GeorgeW. Mulhollendis Headofthe SmokeDynamicsResearch
Groupin theCenterforFireResearchattheNationalBureauofStandards.Hisresearchhasfocusedonsmokeaerosolphenomenaandthe
developmentofaccurateparticlesizestandards.
under which smoke is produced—flaming, pyrolysis, and
smoldering—affect the amount and character of the smoke.
The smoke emission from a flame represents a balance between
growth processes in the fuel-rich portion of the flame
and burnout with oxygen. While it is not possible at the
present time to predict the smoke emission as a function of
fuel chemistry and combustion conditions, it is known that
an aromatic polymer, such as polystyrene, produces more
smoke than hydrocarbons with single carbon-carbon bonds,
such as polypropylene. The smoke produced in flaming
combustion tends to have a large content of elemental (graphitic)
carbon