Abstract
Cotton textile waste contaminated with drying oils such as raw linseed oil poses a self-heating fire hazard, but previous work has mainly relied on milligram-scale thermal analysis (DSC/TGA) or isothermal oven-basket exposure, both of which provide limited insight into the reproducibility and covering-dependent behavior of macroscale textile waste. The present study investigated the self-heating behavior of raw-linseed-oil-contaminated cotton gloves under a scenario-based, non-isothermal ramp-heating protocol (5 °C/min) in which the sample and oven atmosphere were heated simultaneously, reproducing the gradual thermal exposure conditions typical of workplace waste storage. Three oil loadings (5, 10, 15 g), four oven set temperatures (100–140 °C), and three covering conditions (open, closed, towel-covered) were tested in triplicate (108 tests total). Significant self-heating was defined as a maximum excess temperature ΔTmax ≥ 60 °C. All 27 tests at 100 °C were negative, whereas self-heating became increasingly frequent from 120 °C onward. The towel-covered condition produced the most severe and reproducible response, satisfying the criterion in all replicates at 120–140 °C, with mean ΔTmax reaching 116.0 ± 10.1 °C (10 g, 130 °C), while open and closed conditions showed mixed, condition-sensitive responses near the 120–130 °C transition region. Oil loading did not increase self-heating monotonically; this non-monotonic response points to a trade-off between fuel availability and oxygen transport within the cotton matrix. These reproducible, triplicate-based results demonstrate that covering or piling oil-contaminated textile waste with other porous materials markedly increases self-heating severity and consistency, even before ignition is reached. This finding supports the practical recommendation that such waste be stored uncovered, ventilated, and separated in non-combustible containers.