DETERMINATION OF FIRE PERFOMANCE INDICES OF SELECTED BUILDING MATERIALS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Lack of knowledge of fire propagation index of building material used for building project has led to recurrent destruction of building by fire.  This study fire performance index of selected building materials was assessed. Fire propagation test was used to determine the fire performance indices. The building materials include imperial ceiling board, Aluminum Alloy, clay brick, Nigerite ceiling board, Iroko Hard wood (Chlorophora excelsa), Oomo hard wood (Cordial Spp); cement brick and Aluzinc examined and analysis. Majority (87.5 %) of the materials were under building regulations class 2. The result of performance index, show that imperial ceiling board has the highest performance index of 16.91, while Aluzinc has 3.11 as the least performance index.  The finding indicated that Aluzinc roofing sheet was classified under building regulations class 0 and it proved to be best material that has the greatest resistance to surface spread of flame, while other materials have lesser resistance to surface spread of fire and they required treatment for them to the classified under class 1. It can be concluded from the result that the higher the value of the index (I), the greater the materials contribution to fire growth. All the materials are good for building construction