Post-fire Material Response of Structural Aluminum Alloys

Fire safety is one of the key considerations in the design of aluminum alloy structures. In the case of a fire, the temperature of aluminum alloy structural components can rise rapidly, resulting in a considerable reduction in their load-carrying capacities. Since fires typically occur in some parts of a structure and may be extinguished before spreading, accurate assessments on the extent of damage and residual material properties of exposed structural aluminum alloys are critical. To this end, the material properties of structural aluminum alloys after exposure to fire were investigated in this study. A testing program was performed, including heating tests and post-fire material tests. Upon completion of the testing program, the experimentally obtained post-fire material properties, including the material elasticity and strengths, were analyzed through a series of quantitative and qualitative comparisons with their room-temperature counterparts. The analyses and comparisons generally indicate that the elevated temperatures have different effects on the key post-fire material properties of structural aluminum alloys. Then, a set of retention factor predictive models were proposed based on the test data, which were shown to provide accurate predictions of the post-fire material properties of structural aluminum alloys.