Method for the controlled burning of combustible materials and analyses of the combustion gases

A m ethod is described to burn a g ive n qu a nt ity of a co mbu st ible m ateri a l in a fi xed fl. mount of a ir at a selected init ia l te mperat ure. An alyses of most of t he gaseous co mbustion p rod ucts were mad e quickly a nd co mprehensi vely by means of a mass spectr om eter . Hyd roge n c hl oride was not detected with t he m ass spectrom eter because of its adsorpt io n upon t he wa lls of the glass comb ustion cha m ber. The conce nt ration of t hi s gas was deter mined by t it rating a water was h of t he combustion ch amber with a stand a rd s il vcr nitrate solu t ion. Carb on monoxide when prese nt in concentrations below 1,000 pa rt s per milli on was determined by an ind icator met hod, a nd wh en prese nt in conce nt r ations a bo ve 1,000 pa r t s p er million was determined by t he m ass spectrometer . Several organic coatin gs of different c he mica l co mposit ion were burned in a co mbu st ion s pace ini t iall y m aintain ed at three te mperat ures . The lowest te mperat ure (250 C) produced t he s mall est vari ety of combustion gases, whe reas t he hi ghest te mper atUl'e (550 C) pr oduceo t he largest vari ety.