Takashi Kashiwagi

• PhD, Aerospace Mechanical Science, Princeton University, 1971
• Retired at National Institute of Standards and Technology

Cellulose-based PLA/PBAT polymer blends can potentially be a promising class of biodegradable nanocomposites. Adding cellulose fiber reinforcement can improve mechanical properties of biodegradable plastics, but homogeneously dispersing hydrophilic cellulose in the hydrophobic polymer matrix poses a significant challenge. We here show that resorcin...

The effect of low velocity forced flow on microgravity flame spread is examined using quantitative analysis of infrared video imaging. The objective of the quantitative analysis is to provide insight into the mechanisms of flame spread in microgravity where the flame is able to spread from a central location on the fuel surface, rather than from an...

Poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile)/Cloisite 20A (95/5) nanocomposites, having various spatial dispersion levels of the clay, were prepared with controlling clay concentrations in a solvent by the coagulation method. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy were used to characterize the structure and mor...

A combination of montmorillonite (MT) clay and catalysts was used to explore possible synergistic effects in reducing the flammability of poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN). Several catalysts, including ammonium phosphomolybdate hydrate (NHPMo), melamine phosphomolybdate hydrate (MEPMo), zinc phosphomolybdate hydrate (ZnPMo) and sodium phosphomol...

Scientists are shifting their attention towards sustainable technologies and materials, specifically in terms of energy and environmental impacts. The flame retardant community is also more concerned about these aspects. The recent ban of some brominated flame retardants in Europe and USA points out that environment impact in terms of persistency a...

Since starch is not only inexpensive but completely biodegradable, starch-based polymers are a new class of biodegradable nanocomposites with nanofillers. Despite the benefits of using the starch, it is difficult for the starch-based nanocomposites to form thermoplastic polymers because starch is very brittle. Furthermore, melt-blending starch with...

The absorption of resorcinol di(phenyl phosphate) (RDP) oligomers on clay surfaces has been studied in detail and is being proposed as an alternative method for producing functionalized clays for nanocomposite polymers. The ability of these clays to be exfoliated or intercalated in different homopolymers was investigated using both transmission ele...

Addition of just 0.0025 mass fraction of highly aligned multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) showed a 45% reduction in the peak mass loss rate (PMLR) during gasification of epoxy/MWCNT composites; this 45% decrease in PMLR at such a low loading (0.0025mass fraction) of MWCNTs, is much better than that reported previously with either MWCNTs (0.02 mas...

The effect of combination between a trace of halogenated compounds (such as ferric chloride and ammonium bromide) and Ni2O3 particles on the carbonization of polypropylene (PP) was investigated during combustion. The results showed a synergistic catalysis of combined halogenated compounds with Ni2O3 in promoting the formation of the residual char d...

Clay-based SAN nanocomposites with zinc chloride as a catalyst were prepared by the solvent casting method to explore possible synergistic flame retardant effects involving enhanced char formation using a catalyst and the formation of a surface-protective layer having a clay network structure. Although the heat release rate and total heat release w...

We have shown that the addition of certain nanoparticles mixtures can enhance flame retardancy to a greater degree than the addition of either of the nanoparticles alone. The effect is particularly efficient in polymer blends, where more variables need to be considered in the flame behavior. We studied PS/PMMA blends and the respective homopolymers...

Exfoliated EVA/layered silicate nanocomposites were prepared by a masterbatch process using polymer-modified layered silicate instead of small molecule surfactant-modified clays. The nanocomposites exhibited improved mechanical properties and flame retardancy. Microscale flammability test showed that the heat release capacity (HRC) and total heat r...

We have shown that the addition of nanoclays is an effective means for enhancing the flame retardant properties of polymer blends. Polymer blends are difficult to render flame retardant even with the addition of flame retardant agents due to dispersion and phase segregation during the heating process. We show that the addition of 5% functionalized...

Increasing in oil prices and environmental concerns is a driving force to seek out alternative materials. A completely biodegradable starch is a candidate for the alternative materials. Since the starch is brittle, it must be mixed with other polymers. In order to make a thermoplastic starch (TPS), we need a bio-compatiblizer to increase a degree o...

We have previously demonstrated that large aspect ratio nanoparticles such as clays or nanotubes can form in-situ grafts which become universal compatiblizing agents for polymer blends. Here we show how the same mechanism could be applied to producing flame retardant materials in the polymer matrix. In particular, the large aspect nanoclays prevent...

The Geotail high-energy particle instruments have observed cosmic-ray particles in the energy range from 3 MeV n-1 to 150 MeV n-1 at 1 AU during the period 1992 September-1995 August. A remarkable enhancement of anomalous cosmic-ray (ACR) N, O, Ne, and C is observed during the period. A measurable enhancement of the sulfur flux below about 20 MeV n...

We present a simple method to improve the transparency and rheological properties of polystyrene/organoclay nanocomposites. Such composites are typically prepared using organophilic derivatives of commercial montmorillonite (MMT) clays that contain a wide range of particle sizes. Our approach is to fractionate the native MMT clay to exclude large a...

We report the observations of TeV gamma-ray flares from Markarian 501 using the Telescope Array Prototype. The observations were carried out continuously from the end of March to the end of July of 1997. The energy spectrum and the time variation of the gamma-ray intensities are shown. The intensity has been changed by an order of magnitude in this...

a b s t r a c t The addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) or carbon nanofibers (CNFs) to polymeric melts offers a convenient route to obtain highly conductive plastics. However, when these materials are melt processed, their conductivity can be lost. Here, it is shown that conductivities can be recovered through melt annealing at tempe...

a b s t r a c t Previous work has shown that the formation of a network structure of nanoparticles within a polymer matrix can significantly reduce nanocomposite flammability and that viscoelastic properties could be utilized to predict their flammability reduction. The present work extends this type of investigation to the study of clay and carbon...

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope, CALET, mission is proposed for the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, JEM-EF, of the International Space Station. The scientific objective is to investigate the origin of the cosmic electrons and gamma-rays in very high energy region. The detector is composed of an imaging calorimeter of scintillating...

The effects of the aspect ratio of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the rheology and flammability of polystyrene/MWNT nano-composites are studied using two MWNTs having average aspect ratios (length to outer diameter) of 49 and 150. Dynamic rheological experi-ments show that the particles with the larger aspect ratio impart much higher stor...

We have developed radiation detectors using the new synthetic diamonds. The diamond detector has an advantage for observations of "low/medium" energy gamma rays as a Compton telescope. The primary advantage of the diamond detector can reduce the photoelectric effect in the low energy range, which is background noise for tracking of the Compton reco...

We have developed radiation detectors using the new synthetic diamonds. The diamond detector has an advantage for observations of "low/medium" energy gamma rays as a Compton telescope. The primary advantage of the diamond detector can reduce the photoelectric effect in the low energy range, which is background noise for tracking of the Compton reco...

The remarkable electrical and thermal conductivities of isolated carbon nanotubes have spurred worldwide interest in using nanotubes to enhance polymer properties. Electrical conductivity in nanotube/polymer composites is well described by percolation, where the presence of an interconnected nanotube network corresponds to a dramatic increase in el...

Particle spatial dispersion is a crucial characteristic of polymer composite materials and this property is recognized as especially important in nanocomposite materials due to the general tendency of nanoparticles to aggregate under processing conditions. We introduce dispersion metrics along with a specified dispersion scale over which material h...

Alpha-ray detector (ARD) will be on-board SELENE, a Japanese lunar orbiter to be launched around 2006. Primary target is the alpha particles emitted by 222Rn and 210Po. 222Rn is produced by the decay of 238U and emanates from the lunar surface. It is trapped by the lunar gravity and decays with the half-life of 3.8 days emitting 5.490 MeV alpha par...

Progress in the measurement of flammability properties of polymer nanocomposites based on nanoscale oxides such as silica particles, metal oxides, polyhedral oligomeric silsequioxanes, and carbon based nanoparticles such as graphite oxide and carbon nanotubes is described. Effects of the concentration of these nanoparticles and their dispersion in...

The effect of the sample orientation angle on frontside (irradiated surface) ignition and subsequent backside (nonirradiated surface) flame appearance over thin poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) sheets having thicknesses of 0.2 and 0.5 mm has been experimentally investigated, using a CO 2 laser as an external radiant source in qui-escent normal grav...

Recent studies of SWNT/polymer nanocomposites identify the large interfacial thermal resistance at nanotube/nanotube junctions as a primary cause for the only modest increases in thermal conductivity relative to the polymer matrix. To reduce this interfacial thermal resistance, we prepared a freestanding nanotube framework by removing the polymer m...

Diamonds have attractive properties for use as radiation detectors. Recent advances in diamond fabrication techniques have made it possible to produce almost perfect single crystal materials that have electrical properties suitable for radiation detectors. We therefore developed detectors made of high-purity synthetic IIa diamonds grown by a high-p...

Polymer-layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSNs) have been shown to have significantly reduced flammability. Based upon numerous studies to date, the proposed mechanism by which flammability reduction occurs is through formation of a silicate-reinforced char layer that protects the underlying polymer. To further understand this condensed phase pheno...

Synthetic polymeric materials are rapidly replacing more traditional inorganic materials, such as metals, and natural polymeric materials, such as wood. As these synthetic materials are flammable, they require modifications to decrease their flammability through the addition of flame-retardant compounds. Environmental regulation has restricted the...

Radiation detector made of synthetic diamond has many advantages as high resolution and pulse mode radiation detector. Synthetic diamond detector has been investigated, its characteristics, with electric tests and radiation sources in laboratories. In order to investigate more detail of its character, high energy heavy ion beams from HIMAC were irr...

Nonpiloted ignition processes of a thin poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) sheet (0.2 mm thick) with a laser beam as an external radiant source are investigated using three-dimensional, time-dependent numerical calculations. The effects of sample orientation angle on ignition delay time in quiescent air in a normal-gravity environment and of imposed...

Numerical computations and a series of experiments were conducted in microgravity to study the ignition characteristics of a thin polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) sheet (thicknesses of 0.2 and 0.4 mm) using a CO2 laser as an external radiant source. Two separate ignition events were observed, including ignition over the irradiated surface (frontside i...

The effects of the dispersion and concentration of single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) on the flammability of polymer/SWNT nanocomposites were investigated. The polymer matrix was poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and the SWNT were dispersed using a phase separation (‘coagulation’) method. Dispersion of SWNTs in these nanocomposites was characteri...

Although CALET is originally designed for detections of electrons and gamma rays, nuclear components of primary cosmic rays, from protons to iron nucleus and more, are also observable by CALET, utilizing the total absorption calorimeter (TASC). TASC has 1.6 m.f.p. for protons which is enough to measure the energy of protons up to 1000 TeV. Using th...

The PS (particle spectroscopy) sensor, that will be onboard the SELENE spacecraft for the first Japanese lunar mission to be launched in 2005, will measure the high energy cosmic ray particles to measure a radiation environment around the moon for human activities in the future and to study their acceleration and propagation in the solar system. Th...

Diamonds have attractive properties for use as radiation detectors. Recent advances in diamond fabrication techniques have made it possible to produce almost perfect single crystal materials that have electrical properties suitable for radiation detectors. We developed detectors made of high-purity synthetic IIa diamond grown by the high-pressure,...

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope, CALET, mission is proposed for the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, JEM-EF, of the International Space Station. The mission goal is to reveal the high-energy phenomena in the universe by carrying out a precise mesurement of the electrons in 1 GeV – 10 TeV and the gamma-rays in 20 MeV – several TeV. T...

This study focuses on localized ignition by external radiant flux and subsequent flame growth over thin polymeric materials (plastic and paper) in microgravity. Two transition stages were observed. The first transition stage covers the period from the onset of ignition to the formation of stabilized flame near the ignited area. This is followed by...

This study focuses on localized ignition by external radiant flux and subsequent flame growth over thin polymeric materials (plastic and paper) in microgravity. Two transition stages were observed. The first transition stage covers the period from the onset of ignition to the formation of stabilized flame near the ignited area. This is followed by...

The thermal and flammability properties of polypropylene/multi-walled carbon nanotube, (PP/MWNT) nanocomposites were measured with the MWNT content varied from 0.5 to 4% by mass. Dispersion of MWNTs in these nanocomposites was characterized by SEM and optical microscopy. Flammability properties were measured with a cone calorimeter in air and a gas...

Opposed flame spreading over ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene co-polymer) insulated wire, which is used for actual wire in space, in low air flow velocity has been investigated under microgravity environment. The experiments were performed with Japan Microgravity Center (JAMIC) 10 s dropshaft and NASA's KC 135 parabolic flight, Experiments were p...

The thermal and flammability properties of polyamide 6/clay (2 and 5% by mass fraction) nanocomposites were measured to determine their flame retardant (FR) performance. The gasification process of the nanocomposite samples at an external radiant flux of 50kW/m2 in a nitrogen atmosphere was observed, and the residues collected at various sample mas...

A large number of parameters influence polymer-nanocomposite performance and developing a detailed understanding of these materials involves investigation of a large volume of the associated multi-dimensional property space. This multi-dimensional parameter space for polymer-nanocomposites consists of the obvious list of different material types un...

Fire safety is one of the most important issues for manned space missions. A likely cause of fires in spacecraft is wire insulation combustion in electrical system. Regarding the wire insulation combustion it important to know the effect of low external flow on the combustion because of the presence of ventilation flow in spacecraft. Although, ther...

Localized ignition is initiated by an external radiant source at the middle of a thin solid sheet under external slow flow, simulating fire initiation in a spacecraft with a slow ventilation flow. Ignition behavior, subsequent transition simultaneously to upstream and downstream flame spread, and flame growth behavior are studied theoretically and...

PMMA, poly(metheylmethacrylate), nanocomposites were made by in situ radical polymerization of MMA, methylmethacrylate, with colloidal silica (ca. 12 nm) to study the effects of nanoscale silica particles on the physical properties and flammability properties of PMMA. Transparent samples resulted and the dispersity of the particles was examined by...

The improved fire performance of polyamide-6 clay nanocomposite compared with polyamide-6 are correlated with their degradation kinetic parameters. Moreover substituting polyamide-6 by polyamide-6 clay nanocomposite in an intumescent blend enables to improve its fire properties. Once again, the improved fire performance can be correlated with the k...

The effects of resin molecular weight on the flame-retardant mechanism of silica were studied with two different molecular weights of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), 122,000 and 996,000 g/mol, and two silicas, fused silica with a small surface area and silica gel with a large surface area. A total of six different samples were studied, with a mas...

Nature and evolution are possibly the best evidence of the effectiveness of combinatorial and high throughput processes. As a research tool the high throughput concept is not only itself a disrupfive lechnologv, but it is likely to be the major source of new disruptive technologies in any field where it is applied. ' The application of these types...

The Diamond Compton Recoil telescope (DCRT) is proposed for gammaray measurement in the 10 keV to 10 MeV range. A concept of the DCRT is constructed of position sensitive layers of diamond-strip ed detector and calorimeter layer of CdTe detector. The key part of the DCRT is diamond-strip ed detectors with a higher positional resolution and a wider...

A three-dimensional, time-dependent model is developed describing ignition and subsequent transition to flame spread over a thermally thin cellulosic sheet heated by external radiation in a microgravity environment. A low Mach number approximation to the Navier-Stokes equations with global reaction rate equations describing combustion in the gas ph...

Polymer layered-silicate (clay) nanocomposites have not only the unique advantage of reduced flammability, but also improved mechanical properties. This is a key advantage over many flame retardants, which reduce flammability but also reduce the mechanical properties of the polymer. In our efforts to further understand the mechanism of flame retard...

The Japanese lunar polar orbiter SELENE carries a gamma-ray spectrometer which uses a high-purity Ge detector cooled to 80-90 K by a Stirling mechanical cooler. The Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) consists of a large volume n-type Ge detector (252 cc) as the main detector and bismuth-germanate (BGO) and plastic scintillators as an active shielding. Th...

Enclosure effects on the transition from a localized ignition to subsequent flame growth over a thermally thin solid fuel in microgravity are numerically investigated by solving the low Mach number time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical model solves the two and three dimensional, time-dependent, convective/diffusive mass, and heat tr...

Nanocomposites based on poly(propylene) and multi-wall carbon nanotubes (up to 2 vol.-%) were melt blended, yielding a good dispersion of nanotubes without using any organic treatment or additional additives. Carbon nanotubes are found to significantly enhance the thermal stability of poly(propylene) in nitrogen at high temperatures. Specifically,...

Polymer composites based on organically modified phyllosilicates (organoclay) and poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA) were prepared by melt processing to study their combustion behavior. Their degrees of dispersion and intercalation spacings as determined by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were typical of either...

Enclosure effects on the transition from a localized ignition to subsequent flame growth over a thermally thin solid fuel in microgravity are numerically investigated by solving the low Mach number time-dependent Navier-Stokes equations. The numerical model solves the two and three dimensional, time-dependent, convective/diffusive mass, and heat tr...

The CALET (CALorimetric Electron Telescope) instrument is proposed for the observation of TeV electrons at the Japanese Experiment Module Exposure Facility (JEM/EF) on the ISS, which is composed of an imaging calorimeter with scintillating fibers and lead plates, and a total absorption calorimeter with BGO logs. Since TeV electrons could reach only...

The optical properties of particulate emitted from fires burning two distinct polydimethylsiloxane fluids (D-4 and M-2 or MM, where D=(CH3)(2)SiO and M=(CH3)(2)SiO2)were obtained using a transmission cell-reciprocal nephelometer in conjunction with gravimetric sampling. The specific absorption coefficient of particulate ash from fires burning D-4 a...

Flame spreading over thin paper in low external air flow has been performed in microgravity. Two ignition methods, kanthal wire heater and CO_2 laser, were examined. The flame spread rates were measured under various oxygen concentrations and external flow velocity. The result showed that external flow velocity had a strong effect on flame spread r...

Polymer layered-silicate (clay) nanocomposites have the unique combination of reduced flammability and improved physical properties. These results led to a NIST-industrial consortium which investigated the flammability properties of these nanocomposites further. A series of thermoplastic polymer nanocomposites were studied, along with modification...

This investigation is concerned with the thermal stability of organosilicon thin films obtained from the polymerization of 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (H(CH3)2Si-O-Si(CH3)2H) (TMDS) monomer doped with oxygen using the cold remote nitrogen plasma (CRNP) process. The role played by oxygen added to TMDS monomer during the polymerization process on t...

Copper mapping for copper-plated lithium-ion compensated Si(Li) wafers was performed by a microbeam X-ray fluorescence method. Positional distribution of copper across a cross section of the Si(Li) wafers treated at 120°C for 20 h with no bias applied after complete compensation clearly showed deviation from those that did not undergo the thermal t...

The CALorimetric Electron Telescope, CALET, mission is proposed for the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility, JEM-EF, of the International Space Station. The major goals of the mission are to reveal the origin of cosmic-ray electrons and the diffusion characteristics in the Galaxy. The instrument will be composed of an imaging calorimeter of...

Localized ignition is initiated by an external radiant source at the middle of a thermally thin sample under external slow flow, simulating fire initiation in a spacecraft with a slow ventilation flow. Two ignition configurations are simulated, one across the sample surface creating a line shaped flame front (two-dimensional, 2-D, configuration) an...

Non-piloted radiative ignition and transition to flame spread over thin cellulose fuel samples was studied aboard the USMP-3 STS-75 Space Shuttle mission, and in three test series in the 10 second Japan Microgravity Center (JAMIC). A focused beam from a tungsten/halogen lamp was used to ignite the center of the fuel sample while an external air flo...

In most microgravity studies of flame spread, the flame is assumed to be two-dimensional, and two-dimensional models are used to aid data interpretation. However, since limited space is available in microgravity facilities, the flames are limited in size. It is important, therefore, to investigate the significance of three-dimensional effects. Thre...

The effects of imposed flow velocity on flame spread along open edges of a thermally thin cellulosic sample in microgravity were studied experimentally and theoretically. In this study, the sample was ignited locally at the middle of the 4 cm wide sample, and subsequent flame spread reached both open edges of the sample along the direction of the f...

Various types of silica, silica gel, fumed silicas and fused silica were added to polypropylene and polyethylene oxide to determine their flame retardant effectiveness and mechanisms. Polypropylene was chosen as a non-char-forming thermoplastic and polyethylene oxide was chosen as a polar char-forming (slight) thermoplastic. Flammability properties...

A paper by Takashi Kashiwagi et al from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, USA, (originally published in Fire and Materials, Vol 24, No 6, 277-289, November/December 2000, and also available from the NIST website) which describes their work on the flame retardant properties of various types of silicas (silica g...

We constructed a liquid xenon calorimeter with electrodes of multi-parallel plates. This calorimeter is regarded as homogeneous because of thin electrodes and is expected to have an excellent energy resolution of 0.34% for 70 GeV electrons by EGS4 simulation. We tested it for 10–70 GeV electrons at CERN. The measurements were made without signals f...

This work deals with new flame retardant (FR) intumescent formulations for ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers (EVA) using charring polymers polyamide-6 (PA-6) and polyamide-6 clay nanocomposite hybrid (PA-6-nano) as carbonization agents. Use of PA-6 nano improved both the mechanical and fire properties of FR EVA-based materials. The part played by t...

We performed copper mapping for copper-stained lithium ion compensated, Si(Li), wafers by micro-beam X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF) method. Positional distribution of copper across a cross section of the wafers treated at 120 C for 20 hours with no bias applied after complete compensation clearly showed deviation from those not given the thermal treatm...

We review the current status of the development of Gamma-Ray Spectrometer (GRS) for the Lunar mission SELENE. The GRS instrument will measure gamma-rays in the energy range from 100 keV to 9 MeV. The instrument is a high-purity Ge detector surrounded by BGO and plastic scintillators which are operated as an anticoincidence shield, and is cooled by...

An allene-doped liquid argon ionization chamber with a sensitivevolume of 48 mm×48 mm×40 mm has beenconstructed and investigated for precise measurement of the heavy ionenergies at around 100 MeV/n. An energy resolution of 1% (fullwidth at half maximum [FWHM]) was achieved for the 99 MeV/n 16Oand 125 MeV/n 20Ne ion beams. However, the energy resolu...

A new type of Real-time Radiation Monitoring Device, RRMD-III, consisting of three double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSDs) has been constructed and used onboard the Space Shuttle mission STS-84. The Space Shuttle cruised at an altitude of 300–400 km and an inclination angle of 51.6° for 221.3 h. RRMD-III succeeded in measuring the linear energ...

In the inhabited quarters of orbiting spacecraft, fire is a greatly feared hazard. Thus, the fire safety strategy in a spacecraft is (1) to keep any fire as small as possible, (2) to detect any fire as early as possible, and (3) to extinguish any fire as quickly as possible. This suggests that a material which undergoes a momentary ignition might b...

We have observed flares of TeV-gamma rays from Mrk501 in 1997 using three telescopes of the Utah Seven Telescope Array at Dugway, Utah. Determination of the energy spectrum from such Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) is very important, because the gamma-ray spectrum is expected to steepen around 10 TeV from objects like Mrk501 by the interaction of the...

The energy loss distributions of heavy ions (Z ≤ 8) with highenergies (2 MeV/u 50 MeV/u) in thick silicon detectors with uniform thickness havebeen measured in a wide range of fractional energy loss, ΔE/E0, where ΔE is the energyloss and E0 is the initial energy of incident ions. The measureddistributions of energetic He, Li, Be, B and C ions are i...

For a more extensive investigation of polymers, a better understanding of its gasification process is extremely essential. Especially compared with the extensive studies in the gas phase, the solid phase received rather little attention. Thus, the purpose of this paper is in its comparison of several modeling approaches for thermal degradation and...

Three-dimensional (3-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) simulations of the transition from radiative ignition on a solid fuel to flame spread in an imposed wind were performed in microgravity. Two-dimensional flames were found to quench (due to poor oxygen supply) more easily (i.e., at larger wind speeds) than 3-D flames. Results from the 2- and 3-D simu...

Microgravity smolder spread over a thin cellulosic fuel was studied with the Radiative Ignition and Transition to Spread Investigation (RITSI) apparatus in the Glovebox Facility on the STS-75 USMP-3 space shuttle mission. Radiative smoldering ignition was initiated by a focused beam from a tungsten/halogen lamp at the center of the smolder-promoted...