High temperature test method for polymer pipes

Polymer pipes in walls can melt during a building fire, leaving an avenue for fire and smoke to spread. Firestop products aim to mitigate this, but their rapid development is impeded by the lack of appropriate, standardised laboratory tests for polymer pipes at elevated temperatures. We have created a suitable test protocol which can be easily implemented in the laboratory. We have carried out testing, using this protocol, on two common polymer pipes. The results show that PEX and PEX-Al-PEX pipes exhibit similar behaviour when tested at room temperature, but very different results at elevated temperatures. PEX-Al-PEX pipe, at elevated temperatures is observed to crush under a significantly lower load than PEX.