Your one-stop resource for the best understanding and minimizing of fire hazards with building materials!

The first handbook entirely devoted to the coverage of building materials in the field of fire engineering. It walks you through the challenging maze of choosing form the hundreds of commercially available materials used in buildings today and tells you which burn and /or are weakened during exposure to fire.

Handbook of Building Materials for Fire Protection provides the burning characteristics of materials, which usually allow fires to begin and propagate, and the degradation of materials that cause the most damage. In addition, you learn about:

• Material Specifications, Standards and Testing for International Fire Codes
• Plastics, Rubber, Elastomers, and Flame Retardants
• Burning Properties of Chemicals and Solvents
• Wood, Wood Products, and Metals in Construction
• Fundamentals of Fire Hazards of Materials (Burning, Smoke, Toxic Fumes)

Whether youre an architect, a designer, a building or safety inspector, an engineer, a supervisor, or a manager, Handbook of Building Materials for Fire Protection delivers all the information and guidelines you need to make, use, ship or store materials that provide maximum fire safety for your buildings.

Contents

1. Fundamentals of Fire Hazards of Materials
   • Fundamentals of Combustion
   • Gases, Mists, and Dusts
   • Liquids
   • Solids
   • Smoke Protection
   • Enclosure Effects

2. Materials Specifications, Standards and Testing
   • Materials Characteristics
   • Softening and Melting Behaviors of Materials
   • Vaporization, Decomposition, and Charring Behaviors of Materials
   • Ignition Behavior of Materials
   • Flame Spread, Fire Growth, and Burning Behavior of Materials
   • Popular Standard Test Methods for the Burning Behavior of Materials
   • Popular Standard Test Methods for Flame Spread and Fire Growth

3. Plastics and Rubber
   • Polymeric Materials
   • The Burning Process
   • Fire Behavior of Plastics

4. Flame Retardants for Plastics
   • Overview of the Flame Retardants Industry
   • Mechanisms of Flame Retardancy
   • Classes of Commercial Flame Retardation
   • Polymer Families—Selection of Flame Retardant
   • Nanocomposites

5. Fibers and Fabrics
   • The Role of Fabrics in Fire Protection
   • Fibers and Their Properties
   • Fabric Types
   • Flammability of Fabrics
   • Applications—Protective Clothing
   • Applications—Furnishings
   • Challenges for the Future

6. Structural Materials
   • Structural Materials Used in Construction
   • Development of Fire Resistance Testing
   • Structural Materials and Fire
   • Protection of Structural Materials from Fire
   • Determination of Fire Resistance by Testing
   • Determination of Fire Resistance by Calculation
   • Application of Fire Resistance Ratings

7. Wood and Wood Products
   • Units
   • Introduction
   • Wood as a Construction Material (U.S. Customary Units)
   • Physical and Chemical Characteristics (S.I. Units)
   • Thermal Properties (S.I. Units)
   • Mechanical Properties (U.S. Customary Units)
   • Reaction to Fire (S.I. Units)
   • Fire Resistance (U.S. Customary Units)

8. Liquids and Chemicals
   • Properties Associated with the Ignition, Combustion and Flame Spread Behaviors of Fluids
   • Vaporization and Boiling Characteristics of Fluids
   • Ignition Characteristics of Fluids
   • Flammability Characteristics of Fluids
   • Combustion Characteristics of Fluids
   • Smoke Point

9. Materials in Military Applications
   • Composites in Military Applications
   • Polymer Composities
   • Fire Threat
   • Polymer Composites and Fire
   • Fire Requirements and Regulations for Polymer Composites
   • Fire Performance and Test Methods for Composites

Index

click here to see books • videos • cd-roms of related interest