Structural Fire Performance of Steel Beams Protected with Innovative Hot Melt Intumescent Composite (HMIC) Material

在正常情况下，建筑物中的钢梁可能会发生变形。挠度是无法完全避免的；**然而，结构工程师在设计建筑物时会尽量减少这种挠度，以满足适用性设计**的要求。当钢梁遭受火灾时，情况变得更加复杂，因为结构钢的**力学性能，即极限抗拉强度、屈服强度和弹性模数等，在高温下显著恶化。由于这种严重的劣化，随着温度的升高，结构钢构件的承载能力急剧下降，导致钢梁的挠度更大，从而导致不安全的建筑。**市场上有各种防火系统；然而，此类系统安装过程的实用性是非常关键的，特别是当应用于**火灾条件下易受大挠度影响的结构构件时，如长钢梁。**3M公司开发了一种创新的干法膨胀耐火材料(IFRM)，这是一种基于3M专有热熔融膨胀复合材料(HMIC)技术的**高级防火产品。**该创新防火产品预计将在高温下对易受大挠度影响的钢梁表现完美。该研究项目的主要目标是**在莱克黑德大学的火灾测试和研究实验室**对使用新型防火系统**保护的钢构件的耐火性和性能进行实验研究。该项目的结果将**直接用于产品安装过程的改进，从而产生**符合建筑规范要求的商业化产品。

In normal conditions, steel beams in buildings can undergo deflections. Deflections cannot be completely avoided;**however, structural engineers design buildings to minimize such deflections to fulfill the serviceability design**requirements. The situation becomes more complicated when steel beams are subjected to fire, as the**mechanical properties, i.e., ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and modulus of elasticity, etc., of structural**steel significantly deteriorate at elevated temperatures. Due to this significant deterioration, the load-bearing**capacity of structural steel elements dramatically decrease as temperatures increase resulting in much greater**deflections of the steel beams and therefore unsafe buildings. Various fire protection systems are available in the**market; however, practicality of the installation process of such systems is very crucial, in particular when applied**on structural elements that are susceptible to large deflections in fire condition, such as long steel beams.**3M Company has developed an innovative dry-apply Intumescent Fire-Resistant Material (IFRM) that is an**advanced fire protection product based on 3M proprietary Hot Melt Intumescent Composite (HMIC) technology.**The innovation fire protection product is anticipated to perform perfectly on steel beams susceptible to large**deflections when subjected to elevated temperatures. The main objective of this research project is to**experimentally investigate the fire resistance and performance of steel elements protected with the new fire**protection system at Lakehead University's Fire Testing and Research Laboratory. The outcomes of the project will**directly feed into the refinement of the product installation process leading to a commercialized product that**meets the requirement of the building code.