FLAMMABILITY STUDY OF WALLBOARD CONTAINING THERMAL STORAGE MATERIALS - METHODS TO IMPROVE FLAME RETARDANCY OF TREATED WALLBOARD

The introduction of thermal storage materials into wallboard can help to control the temperature fluctuations in the heating and cooling of a building. Thermal storage materials absorb or release heat in define d temperature ranges. Wallboard was treated with thermal storage mater ials, including hexadecane, 1-dodecanol, undecylenic acid, coconut oil and silicone wax. These treatments involved absorption of the compoun ds into the wallboard. The desired uptake of material into wallboard w as approximately twenty-five percent. The uptake rate for silicone was lower than for the other materials. Most of the energy storage materi als are organic, therefore their odor, smoke production, and flammabil ity are a concern. The flammability properties of wallboard samples co ntaining these materials were studied using the E-662 NBS Smoke Chambe r and the E162 Radiant Panel Test. The results showed that silicone wa x, undecylenic acid and coconut oil treated wallboard samples have sup erior flame retardent properties compared to wallboard treated with he xadecane, and 1-dodecanol. Silicone wax has a lower latent heat for th e phase change as measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as compared with the other materials. To obtain better flammability pr operties of treated wallboard, the surface was coated with an epoxy pa int containing aluminum trihydrate or magnesium hydroxide. Radiant Pan el studies showed a major reduction in flame spread factor (Fs) and he at release factor (Q), compared to treated wallboard. However, NBS Smo ke Chamber studies in the flaming and non-flaming mode did not show im provement in smoke generation for coated samples. NBS Smoke Chamher re sults showed that silicone treated wallboard without any coating yield ed lower smoke in the non-flaming mode over other energy storage mater ials, even when protected by a flame retardant paint. Dodecanol showed lower smoke production in the flaming mode versus other samples.