NIST SRM 1196

Region

United States

Associated With

National Institute of Standards and Technology and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - development partners

Defining Feature

A certified, reproducible smouldering source for ignition-resistance tests

Status

Superseded - replaced by SRM 1196a in 2020

Overview

NIST SRM 1196 was a laboratory cigarette designed to test how mattresses and furniture resisted ignition.

Developed by NIST with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, it replaced a discontinued commercial cigarette used in furnishings tests. Its specified properties and certified ignition strength gave laboratories a controlled smouldering source to place on mattresses, upholstery and related materials.

The original supply became available in September 2010 and ran out in late 2018. NIST introduced its replacement, SRM 1196a, in February 2020. A 2021 amendment subsequently named the replacement in the US mattress standard.

Why It Mattered

A fire-resistance test needs a dependable ignition source as well as a carefully prepared sample. Changes in commercial cigarette production threatened the continuity of an established testing method. By specifying a laboratory replacement, NIST and the CPSC provided a benchmark intended to keep changes in the cigarette from being mistaken for changes in the furnishings under test.

A Controlled Smouldering Source

• SRM 1196 was restricted to laboratory use for testing mattresses, upholstered furniture, related components and certain thermal-insulation materials.
• Its certified ignition-strength value was 90.0% ± 2.1% full-length burns under NIST’s specified measurement method.
• NIST reported no significant variation in the sampled cigarettes between days, cases, cartons or packs.

Replacing a Discontinued Test Cigarette

• The former Current Test Cigarette ceased production in February 2008 as fire-safe-cigarette legislation took effect in various markets.
• Under CPSC sponsorship, NIST awarded Altria Client Services a contract to manufacture prototypes and candidate standard cigarettes.
• NIST selected a design that satisfactorily replicated the former test cigarette’s physical properties and test results.

The 1196a Successor

• The original SRM 1196 production supply was depleted in late 2018.
• NIST introduced SRM 1196a in February 2020 as a replacement standard cigarette.
• A U.S. rule effective on 23 July 2021 amended the mattress flammability standard to specify SRM 1196a.

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