COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR ECO-FRIENDLY FIRE RETARDANT BUILDING CEILINGS FOR TROPICAL REGION

The emission of noxious elements from building ceiling fire is increasingly becoming a source of concern globally. Hence, there is the need to develop eco-friendly flame-retardant building ceilings from composite materials to forestall the unwanted toxic emissions. This study aims at developing a bio-degradable hybrid aluminium dross ceiling utilizing varying material percentages using the moulding process. Box-Behnken factorial design from Minitab 17 was used to analyze the effect of the variables and runs on the performance properties. The developed ceiling samples were characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) for structural examination. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis was used for phase quantification. The calorific values and thermal properties were examined by the combustion calorimeter and automated Lee’s Disc apparatus, respectively. The mechanical properties were identified using a universal testing machine (UTM) for compressive test and E550 combustion gas analyzer for emission characterization. The results showed that aluminium dross carbon graphite developed from 0.3Aldr0.25Cmt0.3Si0.05G0.1CS exhibited the highest specific heat capacity (SHC) of about 7771.94 Jkg-1K -1 compared to eggshell and oil bean stalk ceiling composite materials. An increase of 90% was noted against the control. The thermal studies showed that there was an excellent thermal conductivity of all the developed composites in the range of 0.0075 Wm-1K - 1 -0.1458 Wm-1K -1 . 0.3Aldr0.2Cmt0.3Bt0.05G0.15OBS shows outstanding improvement with the lowest value of 0.0075Wm-1K -1 and desirable highest thermal resistivity of 133.9 m2K -1W-1 . Thermal absorptivity revealed 0.3Aldr0.25Cmt0.3Si0.05G0.1CS with value of 0.42 10-8 m2 s -1 as lowest among developed ceilings and 0.3Aldr0.2Cmt0.3Bt0.05G0.15CS has required highest thermal effusivity value of 669.2 Jm-2K -1 s -1/2. Combustion studies revealed that heat flux is not desirable in ceiling application; therefore, the least hazardous heat flux value is 0.3Aldr0.23Cmt0.3Bt0.05G0.12OBS at 12.6 W/m2 . All the developed composite ceilings and binders show non-combustible characteristics. There is an absence of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and noxious constituents from the fabricated 0.3Aldr0.2Cmt0.3Bt0.05G0.15OBS. More importantly, quasi negligible SO2 level and CO2 exist; however, 0.3Aldr0.25Cmt0.3Si0.05G0.1OBS recorded maximum CO and NO levels, an indication of toxic affluence. The low mass losses of all of the composite materials, especially for 0.3Aldr0.2Cmt0.3Si0.05G0.15UES retard significantly due to its activities by the retardant constituent. The highest crushing force of 6.6 kN and crushing strength 3.4 MN/m2 was attained for 0.3Aldr0.2Cmt0.3Bt0.05G0.15OBS developed product due to the compact arrangement of the inter-molecular hybrid formation of the composite formed. The flame retardant nature of all produced composite is evidenced in their elemental composition, as there is an absence of flammable element and presence of stable insulating compounds providing retardance to flame occurrences. These suppressions in the flame inclination of the reinforced materials are noticed within the boundaries of the ceiling crystals from the structural examination. The intermetallic phase from the diffraction intensities shows the presence of a significant second bond interstitial solid-phase across the matrix, especially for 0.6Aldr0.34Cmt0.05G0.01OBS ceiling material. This research will help in enhancing the flame retardant influence of eco-materials in building applications. The result has shown that the existing ceiling materials would be replaced with this flame-retarding ceiling material since it is more stable and fire-resistant