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Abstract: This report details a project undertaken in 2006 and 2007 to verify the fire rating of gypsum wall/steel stud assemblies. Samples were sent to six different fire testing laboratories and tested in 10 different furnaces. All of the laboratories returned ratings of 1-h for the samples. Researchers measured the thermal conductivity and specific heat of the gypsum wall samples at room temperature. Measurements were taken with both the paper in place and with it removed. The specific heat of the paper was found to be higher than that of the gypsum wall. The presence of the paper did not affect the thermal conductivity. The average time to failure was 65 minutes. This was the largest investigation of its kind undertaken to determine fire resistance, and the researchers hope that it will help to develop future testing programs.

Reference: NIST NISTIR 7471 December 2007

DOI: N/A