Thermal characterisation of composite cladding core materials using evolved gas analysis

Combustible composite cladding panels used in high-rise buildings have received significant attention in recent times due to their contribution to fire spread in several fire incidents. Different types of non-combustible cladding panels (Solid aluminium panel, Honeycomb panel, Aluminium composite panels with non-combustible core) are recommended to use instead of combustible cladding panels to mitigate this issue. However, the thermal characteristics of all non-combustible cladding panels core materials are not well studied. The current study highlights this gap, two types of non-combustible cladding core materials have been tested to compare the thermal characteristics of the core materials. This study aims to evaluate the mass loss of the core materials and monitor the gaseous products responsible for mass loss. The products from decomposition were identified and it was observed that the thermal characteristics of each composite cladding vary significantly though all cladding core materials are non-combustible.