UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

Browse

Filters

20071

Settings

Author: search.filters.author.Leikach, Danielle CarynSubject: search.filters.subject.polyethylene

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    An Assessment of the Use of Flame Retardant Plastics for Museum Applications
    (2007-12-18) Leikach, Danielle Caryn; Mowrer, Frederick; Brostoff, Lynn; Fire Protection Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Halogenated flame retardant plastic sheeting may help to reduce flame spread in museums; however, the plastics contain chemicals that may be harmful to museum objects in situ, particularly metals. This study assesses historical and contemporary problems and benefits associated with flame retardant plastics with respect to museum applications. This issue was addressed by pairing statistical data on museum fires with standard and novel methods for assessing corrosivity, while also creating a format for future assessments of fire-safety related practices as they are applied in museum settings. Flame retardant plastics were found to cause small rates of corrosion in copper, approximately 1.2 milli-inches per year (mpy), compared to pure polyethylene which corrodes at approximately 0.83 mpy. Conventional testing methods show that flame retardant plastics can be considered safe for limited museum use and that they delay ignition from small heat sources, but they must be assessed for each individual scenario.