Comparative analysis of the fire performance of pipe insulations depending on test standards

Abstract

Due to the high number of cases in which fire spreads from the combustion of pipe insulation installed to prevent piping from freezing, fire-retardant products are widely used in building construction. Although pipe insulation is generally installed with tube shape, rectangular flat specimens are used to evaluate the reaction-to-fire performance. In this study, the reaction-to-fire performance of various types of pipe insulation was investigated in accordance with the NFPA 274 and ISO 20632 test standards, which consider actual installation conditions. The insulation materials were classified with reference to the criteria of EN 13501-1. Fire growth rate (FIGRA) values were calculated from each test procedure to analyse the correlation between the standard test methods. The materials that passed the NFPA 274 criteria could be assigned the reaction-to-fire performance classification of CL or higher according to EN 13501-1. This result can be used to predict the actual fire performance of pipe insulations.