Fire resistance level of lightweight fibre-reinforced magnesia composite refractory wall systems

Enhancing safety and comfort of the buildings provides people enjoyable quality life. Building materials and methods of construction are required to comply with the relevant standards. Fire is one of important hazards to be counted for sustaining safety environment, and fire resistance levels (FRL) of building materials and systems are specified in relevant building standards. Magnesia cement is indeed noncombustible and exhibits excellent fire resistance. Unlike conventional Portland Cement (OPC) products, magnesia based products can achieve similar results with lighter and thinner products in case of fire resistance. Magnesia oxychloride cement (MOC) is one of the cement commonly used in making refractory building products, especially for wall and floor systems as it has excellent properties such as high strength, fire resistance and low thermal conductivity. There are not many reports on FRL of MOC refractory wall systems, and hence, this paper will present the tested FRL of various wall systems of (MOC) refractory products. The FRL of various lightweight fibre-reinforced MOC composite wall systems will be determined by pilot and full scales furnace tests complying with AS1530.4 in the accredited test centres, CSIRO and Exova Warringtonfire, in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. The MOC composite wall panel specimens are INEX and BalPlus panels, which are products of UBIQ Pty Ltd and the wall systems were constructed with normal industrial-used timber and steel wall frames. The dimension of the specimen panels varies with the thickness between 10mm to 25mm. The results includes load bearing and non-load bearing fire testing, BAL, FRL30/30/30 up to FRL -/240/240. Moreover, the significant research outcome is achieving a 4 hours fire rating of 75mm nominal thick wall system which includes two layers of 25mm MOC panels. This research provides the information about excellent fire performance of various MOC wall cladding systems, in order to contribute useful information about MOC refractory products required for building industry.