DETERMINATION OF FIRE PERFOMANCE INDICES OF SELECTED BUILDING MATERIALS

Abstract

Lack of knowledge of fire propagation index of building material used for building project has lead to recurrent destruction of building by fire. Therefore the need to study and analysis the fire performance indices of some building materials for appropriate selection of building material become very necessary and important. This study therefore deal with determination of fire performance indices of some building materials in other to proffer solution to building destruction by fire. This was actualized by measuring the fire resistance prosperities of building material using the fire propagation test for materials. The fire propagation index or the performance index of the building materials tested were measured. The materials tested were, imperial ceiling board, Aluminum Alloy, Ikere clay brick, Nigerite ceiling board, Danta Hard wood, Glass, Oomo hardwood, cement brick, Aluzinc, Twisted bar, plywood, fiberglass and material sheet. The result of performance index obtained for the various material, tested are as follows respectively. 16.91, 16.22, 16.05, 10.80, 8.20, 5.50. 5.00, 4.82, 3.11, 1.00, 0.30, 0.30 and 0.00. The result of performance index, show that imperial ceiling board has the highest performance index of 16.91 while metal sheet has 0.00 as the least performance index. The test measured the amount and rate of heat evolved by the products while they were subjected to standard heating conditions. It can be concluded from the result that the higher the value of the index (I), the greater the materials contribution to fire growth. The temperature-time graph for the various materials tested also revealed that the temperature increases with time for the materials tested