The Experimental Study of Fire Behavior of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) on Masonry Brick Prism

Abstract

Heating equipment, cooking equipment, electrical and lighting equipment, smoking
materials, and intentional fire starting are the five most prevalent causes of fires in commercial
buildings, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The most essential factor is the
construction materials, which can cause or avoid a fire. The focus of the research should be on passive
fire safety as well as aggressive fire safety to prevent flames from spreading. The purpose of this article
was to investigate the fire resistance of structural masonry prism using PVC (polyvinyl chloride) wall
panels due to its high fire resistance and also we can use it as an interior finishing material. All organic
polymers are combustible: if enough heat is applied to them, they will thermally break down and their
thermal decomposition products will burn. When the source of heat or flame is removed, however, PVC
usually does not burn. Because PVC contains 56.8% chlorine in its basic polymer weight, and chlorine is
one of the few components that confer strong fire characteristics to a polymer. PVC can still be
specified for applications at 130°F (54.4°C), the material can withstand significantly less pressure at
elevated temperatures (those above 73°F or 22.8°C) Structural materials.
Masonry prisms are built for compressive strength testing according to the ASTM C1388 Standard Test
methods to research the fire behavior of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) as a wall assembly in structures by
using compressive strength testing machine. For the making of one masonry prisms of dimensions, 9’’x
9’’x12’’there are 8 bricks required of mortar ratio of 1:4. And using this ratio we make 9 masonry prisms
for 3 trials. The research shows that, even when exposed to high temperatures, brick/masonry prism
strength had a significant impact on the structural stability and fire resistance time of the panels (under
load). The PVC encasement was found to improve the thermal insulation characteristic, which is one of
the fire resistance performance requirements.