Fire and Mechanical Properties of Hemp and Clay Boards for Timber Structures

Abstract

The use of timber with other bio-based building materials is often restricted due to the fire hazard. The primary protection for timber against fire is provided by cladding. Currently, there is limited fire protection design data on clay and hemp boards since they are relatively new products. Furthermore, the mechanical performance of boards is of utmost importance in timber frame assemblies. This paper presents a test program that determines the tensile and bending strength of boards accompanied by a comparison to widely used gypsum plasterboards. The fire protection effect for timber is assessed by using a cone heater. Main results indicate that clay and hemp boards are adequate alternatives for the gypsum plasterboards as they can demonstrate similar performance. Hemp boards made by dry method perform significantly better compared to the ones made by wet method. Clay boards with special additive demonstrate increased fire performance compared to more ecological boards. This study contributes to further research that is needed in order to provide design parameters for sustainable building solutions in the future.

Investigation of Efficient Alkali Treatment and the Effect of Flame Retardant on the Mechanical and Fire Performance of Frost-Retted Hemp Fiber Reinforced PLA

“…The fire behavior of the biocomposites was defined by (i) mass loss (m loss ), (ii) time to ignition (t ig ), (iii) surface temperature at ignition (Ig temp ), and (iv) temperature response through depth (t depth ). The potential of the biocomposite to function as a fire barrier was investigated using the basic protection time of a material (t prot ) and the start time of charring of timber (t ch ), which corresponded to through-depth temperatures of 270 and 300 °C (EN 1995-1-2:2004), respectively, as used in previous research [ 18 , 30 ].…”

“…According to Naughton et al [ 27 ], a fire-resistance test is necessary for any construction material to fulfill building standard regulations. Because natural fibers have a low thermal property [ 29 ], improving the fire resistance of NFRCs is critical and will provide more potential to use sustainable materials as fire protection in buildings and provide a significant contribution toward carbon neutrality [ 30 ]. However, fire-retardant treatment can often result in the degradation of fiber strength, especially following the fiber treatment that causes the removal of lignin-rich middle lamella responsible for the fiber stiffness [ 5 ].…”

Effect of Hemp Fiber Surface Treatment on the Moisture/Water Resistance and Reaction to Fire of Reinforced PLA Composites

“…The composite fire performance was characterized in terms of (i) Ignition time, (ii) Ignition temperature, (iii) Temperature response through depth (i.e., temperature determined between the surface of the composite and the timber block), (iv) Weight loss, (v) Basic protection time of the composite (t prot ) and (vi) Start time of charring of timber (t ch ), which is a function of t prot of the composites. Temperature values of 270 °C and 300 °C were used to obtain the t prot and t ch , respectively, as recommended in the literature [ 21 ].…”

Integration of life cycle assessments (LCA) in circular bio-based wall panel design

“…To observe whether the clay board can still be considered a sustainable material, an alternative producer was selected for this study. The alternative clay board presented a lower density (700 kg/m 3 ), and different composition, as described in (Kallakas et al, 2019;Ashour and Wu, 2010). The lower density clay board was assumed to be composed 75% hemp waste fibres by volume and 25% by volume of clay.…”