What is Oxygen Index?

Oxygen index or OL for short, refers that under specified conditions, the minimum oxygen concentration to maintain stable combustion when sample on nitrogen-oxygen mixed airflow, expressed as the percent of the volume of oxygen.

Oxygen index is a method to evaluate the relative inflammability of textile, plastic and other high polymer materials, it is a very effective method to judge the material’s combustion complexity on application of a flame, which makes this method regarded by many country in the world. The corresponding national standards for Oxygen index method have been enacted in China including GB 2406-80 and GB 5454-85.

High oxygen index shows that material is nonflammable, low oxygen index shows inflammable material, in general, inflammable materials’ oxygen index is less than 22, combustible material’s oxygen index is from 22 to 27, nonflammable material oxygen index is more than 27.