Reference Verification Fluids for Flash Point Determination

The flash point of a liquid material is used to classify whether the material is flammable or combustible. 1,4-dimethylbenzene (p-xylene) has been used historically to verify the proper operation of different flash point test equipment. Because of the toxicity and low flash point value of 1,4-dimethylbenzene, an interlaboratory study was conducted to determine alternate flash point reference standards. This study reports the flash points of n-decane, n-undecane, n-tetradecane, and n-hexadecane using various flash point test methods. The flash points of these materials were found to be test-method dependent because of the inherent differences in the various flash point test methods. The reported reference flash point values of these materials are now used to verify the proper operation of flash point test equipment in place of 1,4-dimethylbenzene.