Abstract
In the present work, some materials that are commonly used in the construction industry were studied with regard to their thermal degradation characteristics and combustion attributes. These included façade materials for pre-fabricated houses, such as the layers of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and the inner core of aluminium composite panels (ACPs). The relevant investigations were carried out by employing thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC). The Arrhenius parameters and the associated calorimetric quantities, i.e., heat release rates, temperature to the peak heat release rate, heats of combustion, heat release capacities, and char yields, were also evaluated. These parameters showed that CLT is more fire retarded than the polymeric internal core of ACP façade materials. Furthermore, some valuable correlations among the various test quantities were found. For instance, a good correlation exists between the general profiles of the thermograms obtained through TGA runs and the heat release rate (HRR) traces from PCFC measurements. Depending on the nature of the materials, the char yields measured by PCFC can be 4–20 times higher than the ones obtained through TGA.
Highlights
The assessment of fire risks for the new materials involves various approaches for collating different fire-related parameters [1,2]
The values of kinetic parameters obtained for the façade materials are as follows: Façade type 1 has an energy of T—temperature activation (Ea) of 264.55 kJ∙mol−1, primarily averaged between α values from 0.25 to 0.75; Façade type 2 has an Ea of 249.36 kJ∙mol−1 with α values averaged over the range from 0.50 to 0.80 (Figure 2)
For the inner core of the façade materials, the main degradation happens in one step, and essentially, is in the same temperature range regardless of the heating rate
Summary
The assessment of fire risks for the new materials involves various approaches for collating different fire-related parameters [1,2]. They include, but not limited to, the radiant heat flux generated, the amounts of smoke and toxic gaseous components produced (e.g., carbon monoxide CO and carbon dioxide CO2 ), the fire spread rate and the propensity of construction elements to result in structural failures. In order to measure the experimental quantities of interest, a variety of small-, medium-, and large-scale tests are usually performed. Östman and Nussbaum found an empirical correlation between the times to flashover in a full-scale room fire test for surface lining materials from the measurements of the Polymers 2019, 11, 1833; doi:10.3390/polym11111833 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers
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