Mass loss and flammability of insulation materials used in sandwich panels during the pre‐flashover phase of fire

Abstract

Summary Nowadays, buildings contain more and more synthetic insulation materials in order to meet the increasing energy‐performance demands. These synthetic insulation materials have a different response to fire. In this study, the mass loss and flammability limits of different sandwich panels and their cores (polyurethane (PUR), polyisocyanurate (PIR) and stone wool) are studied separately by using a specially designed furnace. Expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene are tested on their cores only. The research has shown that the actual mass loss of synthetic and stone wool‐based cores is comparable up to 300 °C. From 300 °C onwards, the mass loss of PUR panels is significant higher. The mass losses up to 350 °C are 7%, 29% and 83% for stone wool, PIR and PUR respectively, for the influenced area. Furthermore, delamination can be observed at exposure to temperatures above 250 °C for the synthetic and 350 °C for the mineral wool panels. Delamination occurs due to the degradation of the resin between core and metal panels and the gasification of the (PUR) core. The lower flammability limits have been established experimentally at 9.2% m/m (PUR) and 3.1% m/m (PS). For PUR, an upper limit of 74% was found. For PIR and mineral wool, no flammability limits could be established. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Insightful investigation of smoke suppression behavior and mechanism of polystyrene with ferrocene: An important role of intermediate smoke

“…Owing to high softening temperature, excellent foaming property, and mechanical performance, polystyrene (PS) has been used in electric and electronic devices, packaging and expandable foams, etc . As one of 5 general engineering plastics, PS also exhibited fire hazards especially in case of high‐demanding circumstances.…”

Flame behaviour, fire hazard and fire testing approach for lightweight composite claddings – a review

“…A small amount of char experienced a higher amount of mass loss as possess higher flammability (Mouritz and Gibson, 2006). Giunta d'Albani et al (2017) used a heated furnace for analysing the mass loss of different polymers such as PU, PIR, EPS and XPS, which are commonly used in cladding panels. Mass loss of most polymers was observed at the range of temperature between 250°C and 400°C.…”

“…At 250°C only 2% mass loss is observed, but it increased sharply at 400°C. The mass loss of polymers such as PIR, PU and PS polymers at 400°C is 28%, 44% and 87%, respectively (Giunta d'Albani et al , 2017). Jiao et al (2012) observed a multi-stage thermal degradation of XPS.…”

“…Most of the lightweight cladding systems showed rapid fire growth due to the flammable polymeric materials and delamination of the outer skin (metal face) of the panel (Cooke, 2008). Higher thermal stress from the fire can degrade the additives or resin bonding between the outer skin and core materials (Figure 5) (Giunta d'Albani et al , 2017). Another important issue noticed during cladding fire is the formation of volatile effluents and their transportation.…”

Numerical modelling of sandwich panels with a non-continuous soft core

“…The influence of different proportions of mineral wool and polyurethane foam on the results of the fourpoint bending tests were investigated. It should be clearly noted that a number of research projects devoted to panels with mineral wool core dealt with issues of fire resistance [14].…”