THERMAL SCIENCE

International Scientific Journal

INFLUENCE OF FIBERGLASS MESH ON FLAMMABILITY OF EPS USED AS INSULATION OF BUILDINGS

ABSTRACT
Different scale tests to explore the influence of fiberglass mesh on the fire behaviour of EPS (expanded polystyrene) have been conducted. Micro-scale Combustion Calorimeter (MCC) to measure the heat release rate per unit mass, heat release capacity and the total heat release of EPS and as well as the fiberglass for milligram specimen mass has been used. Cone colorimeter bench scale burning tests with the EPS specimens and EPS-fiberglass compound specimens have been carried out. The heat release rate per unit area, ignition times, and the derived minimum igniting heat fluxes were determined. Comparative burning tests on the fire spread tendency of EPS and EPS-fiberglass compound specimens have been carried out. It was established that the fiberglass mesh stabilizes the EPS fire as a wick fire due to the adherence of the melting polystyrene adheres to the fiberglass mesh and this causes an upwards fire spread.
KEYWORDS
PAPER SUBMITTED: 2016-04-05
PAPER REVISED: 2016-06-17
PAPER ACCEPTED: 2016-06-22
PUBLISHED ONLINE: 2016-08-07
DOI REFERENCE: https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI160405173X
CITATION EXPORT: view in browser or download as text file
THERMAL SCIENCE YEAR 2018, VOLUME 22, ISSUE Issue 2, PAGES [1025 - 1036]
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© 2024 Society of Thermal Engineers of Serbia. Published by the Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, National Institute of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International licence