Fire resistance of selected construction materials

Abstract

In this study, the effect of firing temperature on clay bricks and cubic concrete specimens was studied at a temperature of 600 °C to investigate how these common used construction materials behave during the fire disasters. Extensive tests programs are conducted on bricks specimens that were collected from many different sites in Wait governorate as well as many groups of concrete cubic specimens at 7 and 28 day. The changing of the compressive strength of concrete and clay bricks after firing at high temperature was investigated experimentally. As well as, study the effect of firing temperature on clay bricks using efflorescence and water absorption tests on bricks. The study ascertained that the firing temperature has a significant effect on clay bricks and concrete, where they are less efficient in the load resistance capacity under compression. Also, increase in the efflorescence of bricks and decreases in average of water absorption by bricks are noticed.