Flammability of polymeric materials used in construction

This article is devoted to the results of fire risk studies of polymer construction materials (PCMs), in particular decorative and finishing materials. The article summarizes the results of longstanding research carried out at VNIIPO EMERCOM in Russia and covers the main areas such as a review of existing regulatory and technical bases, experimental study of fire hazard (mainly the ability to ignite) for decorative and finishing facing materials, estimation of the flammability of paint and varnish coverings (P&VC), development of a method to determine fields of application for decorative and finishing materials, based on the condition of non-flammability in the case of fire, development of permissible usage conditions for decorative and finishing materials in premises (especially along evacuation routes) and determining methods for establishing permissible finish height. Research conducted in the specified areas allows to formulate the conditions for fire-safe P&VC application, taking into account the established maximum values of heat flux density, as well as to propose methods for determining the ignition time, the critical density of the heat flux ignition and the amount of heat necessary to ignite a unit of the coating surface for further practical use. Fire-safe P&VC application means no fire hazard from such coatings under the conditions of their particular use. Experimental studies of the influence of P&VC thickness (number of layers) and base (substrate) type on the flammability indexes made it possible to establish a number of corresponding dependencies.