Flammability trends for a comprehensive array of cladding materials

Abstract

The flammability of materials is a key component of modern cladding fires. Vertical flame spread is a complex phenomenon which is, amongst others, a function of thermal inertia, ignition temperature, and heat release. The recently published Cladding Materials Library contains the needed flammability data to help engineers perform fire risk assessments on buildings. Cladding fire research has previously generally focused on expensive and time consuming full-scale testing, or on the chemical composition, with little regard to the flammability or other performance metrics. Here we show common trends in the ignition and burning behaviour for cladding materials in a systematic bench-scale study using the Cladding Material Library. The organic content is shown to be a poor indicator of the fire performance, as represented by the heat release rate. A simple and highly conservative model indicates the relative behaviour of a diverse range of cladding materials. This analysis supports competent engineers to select which specific buildings require further investigation based on performance, and to aid development of remediation solutions. The differences within categories of materials, e.g. high-pressure laminates, are large and thus the performance should be tailored for the specific building material. This work complements but does not replace full-scale system testing.

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

“…At present, there are no proven small-scale test protocols for classifying the fire performance of different lightweight cladding systems (White and Delichatsios, 2015). McLaggan et al (2020) and McKenna et al (2019) recently conducted the cladding materials experiment using a small-scale test procedure, but none of them considered the combined fire performance effect of cladding materials and insulation. A significant number of the small-scale tests were performed using cone calorimeter equipment based on a single component (Bakhtiyari et al , 2015; Petrella, 1994; Bakhtiyari, 2010; Bakhtiyari et al , 2009; Yuen et al , 2020).…”

“…They proposed four categories (Low, Intermediate, High and Very high) for each parameter ranging value from 0 to 100 (0.0–1.0;1.0–10;10–100; and >100). The classification protocols are helpful to established fire performance criteria for combustible materials (McLaggan et al , 2020). A classification protocol on fire hazards needs a wide range of data set Hidalgo et al (2019).…”

“…In a real fire, the total cladding system is exposed to fire and the flammable core materials in panel and insulation are believed to be the common cause of the fire hazard (White and Delichatsios, 2015; McLaggan et al , 2020; McKenna et al , 2019). Though the data on flame behaviour of cladding materials are limited and most of the research data are based on bench-scale testing for single material (McKenna et al , 2019; McLaggan et al , 2020). However, different research work suggested that combined fire performance of multiple materials can give significantly different results compared to singular test material (Chow and Han, 2006; Vincent et al , 2018).…”

“…Small-scale testing enables an interpretation of the individual component performance in the cladding system (McKenna et al , 2019; Östman and Tsantaridis, 1994; Östman and Nussbaum, 1989; Chow, 2004). The wide range of databases from small-scale fire testing can act as the first step to remediation and investigation of cladding systems (McLaggan et al , 2020).…”

Evaluating the fire risk associated with cladding panels: An overview of fire incidents, policies, and future perspective in fire standards

“…These include high-pressure laminates, timber claddings, weatherproof membranes, and insulation. 37 The problem is particularly difficult as these materials are included as part of a system that has interactions between components and introduces the issue of elements such as mechanical fixings. Many of the remediation strategies around the world have yet to address whether or not non-ACP materials pose a risk for the specific buildings they are included within.…”