Fire performance of PEX piping systems

这项研究解决了我们的行业合作伙伴欧博诺有限公司（加拿大）在交联高密度聚乙烯（PEX）管道和管道系统的防火性能方面面临的主要挑战。这些系统用于许多应用：辐射供暖，管道，能源运输和消防喷头。出于监管目的，管道制造商必须对单个产品和包含这些产品的完整墙/地板组件进行防火性能测试。由于能够进行这种全面测试的测试设施很少，并且需要测试完整的系统，因此调查材料配方或管道系统设计变化对消防安全的影响变得既昂贵又耗时。然而，这些信息对于决定在哪里投资研发新产品线至关重要。在本研究中，小型量热仪和大型自定义墙体火灾试验将提供新的理解PEX管道材料在一系列加热情况下的传热，分解和完整性，以及不同阻燃策略对管道系统性能的影响。将建立从小型到全尺寸的规模结果的关系，并开发一种全新的测试方法，用于评估已安装的墙内管道系统的防火性能。结果将提供欧博诺有限公司。（加拿大）在管道制造和解决方案工程行业具有显著的竞争优势，指导下一代产品的开发，缩短定制解决方案的上市时间，减少研发成本和改进现有产品的周期，以及为满足安大略省，加拿大和全球市场的消防安全需求而量身定制的创新产品的开发。

This research addresses key challenges faced by our industry partner, Uponor Ltd. (Canada) related to fire performance ofcrosslinked high density polyethylene (PEX) pipe and piping systems. These systems are used in many applications: radiantheating, plumbing, energy transport and fire sprinklers. For regulatory purposes, piping manufacturers must conduct fireperformance tests on individual products and complete wall/floor assemblies containing these products. Because there are fewtest facilities that can conduct this full-scale testing, and complete systems need to be tested, it becomes expensive and timeconsuming to investigate effects on fire safety of changes to materials formulation or piping system design. Yet, this information iscritical in deciding on where to invest in R&D towards new product lines.In this research, small calorimeter and large custom wall fire tests will provide new understanding of heat transfer, decompositionand integrity of PEX piping materials under a range of heating situations, and the impacts of different fire retardant strategies onpiping system performance in fires. Relationships will be established to scale results from small to full-scale and an entirely newtest method developed for assessment of fire performance of as-installed, in-wall piping systems. Outcomes will provide UponorLtd. (Canada) significant competitive edge in the piping manufacture and solutions engineering industry, guiding development ofnext generation products, reducing time-to-market for custom solutions and reducing R&D cost and cycle time for modification ofexisting and development of new, innovative products tailored to meet fire safety demands in Ontario, Canada and the globalmarketplace.