Abstract: This paper focused on the smoke generation mechanism of burning rigid polyurethane foams(RPUF). A smoke generation model was verified using thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimeter(TG-DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR),X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), pyrolysis gaseous chromatography mass spectrometry(Py/GC-MS), transmission electron microscope(TEM). It was found that smoke generation started from the thermal decomposition in the condensed phase, which was subsequently broken forming a carbon layer, and then grew into aromatic smoke particles in the gas phase.

Key words: polyurethane, rigid foam, chromatography, spectroscopy, microscope, smoke generation mechanism