CASE STUDY

SUBJECT : MATERIALS
SYBVOC
BY GROUP 1 – ROLL NO.S 1-11.
What Is Fire ?

■ Fire is the visible effect of the process of

combustion.
■ It occurs between some sort of fuel and
oxygen in air.
■ The process will go on as long as there is
enough fuel, heat and oxygen.
INTRODUCTION

■ Fires can be classified in five different ways depending on the agent that
fuels them
■ Fires 
can be classified in five different ways depending on the agent that fuels t
hem
: Class A, Class B, Class C, Class D, and Class K.
■ Each type of fire involves different flammable materials and requires a
special approach.
■ In fact, trying to fight a blaze with the wrong method might make the
situation worse.
■ Knowing which type of fire extinguisher to use is crucial.
 CLASS
A

CLASS CLASS
K B
TYPES OF
FIRE

CLASS CLASS
D C
THE FIRE EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURERS' ASSOCIATION SUGGESTS REMEMBERING THE
ACRONYM “PASS”

P Pull the pin

A Aim the nozzle from a safe difference

S Squeeze the handle slowly

S Sweep the nozzle from side to side until the fire is

out. 
Fire rating ■ A fire rating is how long a material is supposed
to last when exposed to fire. A fire rating is often
used between different area types in a building so
that a fire in one area doesn’t spread too quickly
and overwhelm another, such as a fire in a movie
theater projection booth spreading out into the
theater itself and trapping people.
■ It’s meant primarily to give people a chance to
get out, but if it gives the building enough time to
survive until fire fighters arrive and limit the
damage, so much the better.
■ What does a hour’s fire rating mean?
A “one-hour” fire rating is given to an assembly
consisting of various building materials that can
resist the exposure of a standardized fire exposure for
one hour. So a 2-hour fire rating means that the walls
and ceiling are able to withstand flames for 2 hours
before they fail and similarly for more hours
 ■ Class A fires are the easiest to put
CLASS out. They involve solid combustible
materials like wood, paper, plastic, or
A clothing.
■  Use a water or foam fire extinguisher
 on Class A fires.
■ One can also 
use water to douse the fire, as it can
remove the fire's heat supply.
■ Class A fires are the easiest type to
extinguish. 
Class B ■ Class B fires involve
 ignitable liquids or gases like petroleum
grease, alcohol, paint, propane, or gasoline.
But, this classification typically does not
include fires involving cooking oils or
grease. 
■ These types of fires might occur
 anywhere flammable liquids or gases are sto
red or used
.
■ It's very important not to use a water
extinguisher 
■ Class B fires should be extinguished using
 foam, powder, or carbon dioxide extinguishe
rs
■ These types of extinguishers work by cutting
off a fire's oxygen supply. 
Class C  ■ Class C fires involve electrical equipment.
■ This type of fire might be started by old wiring
in walls, frayed electrical cords, worn-out
breaker boxes, or faulty appliances.
■ Electrical fires are very common in both homes
and industrial settings.
■ The first thing one should try to do if an
electrical fire starts is to
 disconnect the appliance or item  from its
power source only if it is safe to do so. 
■ One should try to extinguish the flames  using
 a carbon dioxide or dry powder fire
 extinguisher.
■ Do not try to put out an electrical fire with a
water or foam extinguisher as these can make
situation more worse.
Class D ■ It takes high levels of heat to ignite most
metals, which makes Class D fires pretty rare
outside of laboratories and industrial settings.
■ Class D fires are oftentimes caused by alkali
metals
 such as potassium, magnesium, aluminum,
and sodium, as these can ignite when
exposed to air or water.
■ Dry powder extinguishers work on metal
fires by separating the fuel from oxygen or
removing the heat element of the blaze.
■ Foam or water extinguishers can
 potentially increase the intensity of the flam
es
 and cause dangerous explosions.
Class K or ■ Some fires might also be termed Class K or
Class F if they involve cooking oils such as

Class F  vegetable oil or animal fats.

■ Class K fires often start when a pan is left
unattended for too long on a stove.
■ One shouldn't use water to try and extinguish
a Class K fire because dousing a cooking oil
fire with liquid is likely to create a dangerous
splatter effect and spread the flames.
■ One should extinguish a Class K fire with
 a wet chemical extinguisher
■ These 
are mandatory in many commercial kitchens
 and are a good investment if you do any
amount of cooking at home. 
 DEFINITIONS

FIRE RESISTANT FIRE RETARDENT

MATERIALS MATERIAL
■ A fire resistant ■ Fire-retardant materials are
 material is one that is designed to burn slowly.
designed to resist  ■ Having the ability or
burning and withstand  tendency to slow up or halt
heat the spread of fire (as by
providing insulation)
 FIRE RETARDENT MATERIALS
USED IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
■ Mineral Wood  Potassium silicate
 Treated lumber plywood
■ Gypsum boards
 Treated vegetable fiber (e.g., cotton, 
■ Asbestos cement jute, kenaf, hemp, flax, etc..)
■ Perlite boards  Fire-retardant treated wood
 Brick
■ Corriboard  Concrete
■ Calcium silicate  Cement render
 Intumescent paint
■ Sodium silicate
■ Magnesium oxide (MgO)
■ Glass
FIRE RETARDENT MATERIALS
USED IN TEXTILES
■ PBI
■ Aramids - para and meta
■ FR cotton
■ Coated nylon
■ Carbon foam (CFOAM)
■ Polyhydroquinone - dimidazopyridine
■ Melamine
■ Modacrylic
■ Leather
FIRE RETARDENT
MATERIALS
 ■ Fireproofing is rendering something (structures,
Fireproofing materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or
material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a
passive fire protection measure.
■ Application for example:
• Structural steel to keep below critical temperature ca.
540 °C
• Electrical circuits to keep critical electrical circuits below
140 °C so they stay operational
• Common materials used include solid lumber, plywood,
OSB, Particle board, gypsum board, cement fiberboard, or
glass fiber insulation batts.
• Firewall (construction) is a common method employed to
separate a building into small units to restrict or delay the
spread of fire from one section to the next. Fire walls
usually extend the full length of a building, from
foundation to roof.
STONE ■ Stone is a bad conductor of heat and is a non
combustible building material.
■ It suffers appreciably in the effect of heat.
FIRE BRICK
■ A fire brick, firebrick, or refractory brick is a block
of refractory ceramic material used in lining furnaces, 
kilns, fireboxes, and fireplaces.
Properties :
■ Stability and strength.
■ A refractory brick is built primarily to withstand high
temperature
■ Greater energy efficiency.
■ Low thermal conductivity.
■ There are two standard sizes of fire-brick; 229 mm
× 114 mm × 76 mm 229 mm × 114 mm
× 64 mm
■ Depending on the construction and thickness of wall, a
brick wall can achieve a 1-hour to 4 hour fire resistance
rating.
Applications (Brick) :
• Building And Pavements
TIMBER
 The Structural elements like timber,
ignite and get rapidly destroyed in case of
fire.
 To make timber fire resistant, the surface
of timber is coated with ammonium
phosphate & sulphate and borax and boric
acid etc.
 Such treatment on timber surfaces retards
the rise of temperature during fire and
decrease the rate of flame spread.
GLASS ■ Glass conduct heat faster than metal because
it has low thermal conductivity.
■ When glass is subjected to sudden and
extreme variation of temperature, it cracks or
fractures .
■ Reinforced glass with steel wire is more
preferable than normal glass.
■ The reinforced glass has higher melting point
than the ordinary glass
Applications :
• Fire resisting doors, windows, sky lights etc.
CONCRETE ■ The actual behaviour of concrete depends on
the quality of cement,
■ In case of reinforced concrete structure, it
also depends on position of steel.
■ Reinforced concrete structure can resist fire
for hours of temperature 1000C.
■ It cannot be set on fire and it does not emit
any toxic fumes when affected by fire. 
■ Concrete is proven to have a high degree of
fire resistance and, in the majority of
applications, can be described as virtually
fireproof.
■  It has the highest fire resistance
classification (class AI)
FIRE DOOR
■ A fire door is a door with a fire-resistance rating used
as part of a passive fire protection system to reduce the
spread of fire and smoke between separate 
compartments of a structure .
■ Door hardware includes:
• Automatic closing devices or objects
• Ball-bearing hinges
• Gas seals
• Positive latching mechanisms
• Smoke seals
■ Edges of a fire door usually need to have fire rated
 seals which can be composed of:
• An intumescent strip, which expands when exposed to
heat
• Gaskets to prevent the passage of smoke
• Neoprene weatherstripping
NFPA ■ Each access door comes with its own fire
door label, which tells you how it was

Standards constructed or tested, how and where it

should be installed, and how it will improve
your building's safety. The following
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
standards apply to different levels and types
of fire protection:
MINERAL ■ Mineral bonded wood wool boards (WW
boards) are building boards made of 
BONDED wood wool fibres, water and the binding
agents cement, caustic magnesia and gypsum
WOOD WOOL .

BOARD Applications :
• Thermal insulation, acoustic insulation,
indoor decoration, etc.
■ wood wool boards offer better properties
than basic dry wall systems in terms of
summer heat insulation.
GYPSUM ■ Gypsum board is the technical product name
used by manufacturers for a specific board

BOARD with a gypsum core and a paper facing.

Properties :
• sound control, economy, versatility, quality,
and convenience.
Applications :
• Premier building material for wall, ceiling,
and partition systems in residential,
institutional, and commercial structures.
 Type X Gypsum Boar
Regular Gypsum d
Board – a gypsum Type of  – a gypsum board
board with naturally
occurring fire Gypsum with special core
additives to increase
resistance from the Board the natural fire
gypsum in the core resistance of regular
gypsum board.
ASBESTOS ■ Asbestos cement sheet is weatherproof,
durable, corrosion-resist, heat insulating. All

CEMENT these properties contribute it an ideal

construction material.

SHEET ■ Three types of asbestos cement products at

stock - flat sheet, corrugated sheet and coated
corrugated sheet.
■ Heat resistance of the polymer coating sheets
: 100% for 2 hours
APPLICATION OF ■ Flat sheet is mainly applied for equipment
and constructions.
ASBESITOS ■ In steel making factory, it can be used in
CEMENT SHEET vacuum furnace, smelting furnace, heating
equipment for its exceptional thermal
insulation.
■ In constructions, it can be used in
commercial buildings, shopping malls,
hotels, factories, warehouses, tunnels,
theaters, stations and hospitals.
■ Corrugated sheets, or roofing sheets, are
widely used in attic roofs, furnace curtain,
residence, public and agricultural buildings.
PERLITE ■ Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has
a relatively high water content, typically

BOARD
formed by the hydration of obsidian.
■ Perlite boards are thermal, sound and insulation
free resistant board.
■ Their exceptional characteristics is fire
resistance with no degradation or cracking at
temperatures higher than 1000 °C.
Applications :
• used for wall and floor of residential, industrial
and public buildings, swimming pools, cold
storage, boilers and some insulation projects
with special requirements for waterproofing.
• It is used in lightweight plasters, concrete and 
mortar (masonry), insulation and ceiling tiles.[
Calcium Definition : Calcium Silicate
Board is manufactured from a mixture

Silicate Board of portland cement, fine silica, special cellulose

fibers and selected fillers to impart durability,
toughness, fire and moisture resistance.
Properties
■ resistance to movement due to effects of
moisture or heat.
■ will not degrade with time and within normal
applications
■ will not rot or support fungal growth and is
unaffected by sunlight or steam.
■ Fire resistance: BS 476 incombustible A1
Class
 For Internal
Wall,
Partition &
Ceiling

The
Underlay
board for
Calcium For External
Wall &
Floor and
Wall tile
Silicate Ceiling

Panels
Application
s
The
The Sub-
Decorative
roof board
applications
STUCCO ■ Stucco or render is a construction material made
of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is
applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid.
■ Modern stucco is made of Portland cement, sand
and lime, and it serves as an excellent and durable
fire-resistant finish material for buildings.
Applications :
• decorative coating for walls and ceilings
• sculptural and artistic material in architecture.
• to cover less visually appealing construction
materials, such as metal, concrete, cinder block,
or clay brick and adobe.
A one-inch (2.54-centimeter) layer of stucco can
easily lend a 1-hour fire rating to a wall
Installation of
■ Fire alarm system : Smoke Detector
■ Active Fire protection system : Sprinklers
Automatic ■ Active fire protection device: fire extinguisher

system ■ A smoke detector is a device that detects smoke, typically

as an indicator of fire. Commercial, industrial, and mass
residential devices issue a signal to a fire alarm system,
while household detectors, known as smoke alarms,
generally issue a local audible and/or visual alarm from th
detector itself.
Sprinklers & ■ A fire sprinkler is an active fire protection
measure, consisting of a water supply

fire protection system, providing adequate pressure and

flow rate to a water distribution piping
system, onto which fire sprinklers are
system connected.
■ Although historically only used in factories
and large commercial buildings, home and
small building systems are now available at a
costeffective price.
. The Fire Fighting ■ Ceasefire Industries Pvt. Ltd

Equipment ■
■
Safex Fire Services Ltd
Reliance Fire and Safety Limited
Manufacturers in ■ UTC Fire & Security India Ltd

India ■ NewAge Fire Protection Industries Pvt. Ltd

■ Safepro Fire Services Pvt. Ltd
■ Usha Fire Safety Equipments (P) Ltd
■ Kanadia Fyr Fyter Pvt Ltd
■ SafeGuard Industries
■ ABC Fire India
Services provided ■ Fire Extinguisher Service & Installation

by the fire ■ Fire Hose Reel Service & Installation

■ Fire Alarm Service & Installation
retardant ■ Fire Hydrant Testing

companies ■ Fire Brigade Equipment Services

■ Fire Sprinkler Testing
■ Thorough Cleaning
■ Safety Seal Check
■ Discharge Nozzle and hosepipe Checks
■ Instalert test
■ Pressure Gauge Test
Application of ■ Roof – The roof is vulnerable to wildfires, if
it is made up of wood or any other substance
these materials in which is prone to catch fire quickly, it should
be re-roofed with materials such as

interior design composites, metals, tiles.

■ Vents – It is important to cover all vent
openings with metal mesh. The use of
fiberglass or plastic mesh should be avoided
as it has the tendency to melt and burn.
■ Eaves and soffits – The materials used for
protection of eaves and soffits should be
ignition resistant and non – combustible.
■ Windows – Burning embers enter the house
very easily through windows, particularly single
panel and large windows which are more
vulnerable. Installing dual-pane windows with
one pane of tempered glass will reduce the
chance of breakage in a fire.
■ Walls – Wood products are more combustible
and fire prone materials. Boards, panels, etc are
the most common siding materials in the house.
Therefore its important that walls of your house
be made of ignition resistant building materials
like stucco, fiber cement, fire retartdents, treated
wood or other approved materials.
■ Decks – The decks should not have any
combustible materials under them and any
surface built around it should be made with
sufficient ignition resistant and fire proofing
material.
■ Patio cover – Ignition resistant materials can
also be used for patio covering to safeguard
them from fire.
■ Garage – Having tools like fire
extinguishers handy in the garage will be
good preparation for dealing with fire
outbreak, if any. Proper storage of all
combustible and flammable liquids away
from ignition sources is a good and safe
option.
■ Fences – Using a non-ignition and non-
combustible material to build a fence will
further enhance safety against fires.