Jun 8 2005
The World Trade Center (WTC) terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, showed the critical importance of fire resistant materials for structural steel. To accelerate technological advances in this area, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will host a meeting to evaluate industry interest in the creation of a NIST/industry consortium on the materials science of fire resistive materials for structural steel.
The meeting will be July 14, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., at NIST's Gaithersburg, Md., campus. The meeting will explore possible goals and the initial scope of work for the consortium. Expected goals include the development of measurement methods for the thermal and adhesive properties of fire-resistive materials, tools for the characterization of their three-dimensional microstructure and linkages between microstructure and performance properties.
S. Shyam Sunder, lead investigator of NIST's building and fire safety investigation of the WTC collapses, will report on insights learned relevant to fire-resistive materials for structural steel. Attendees also will review NIST efforts to accurately predict performance of fire-resistant materials with laboratory measurements. A tour of NIST laboratory facilities is planned.
Preregistration for the free meeting is required. For further information, see http://ciks.cbt.nist.gov/bentz/FRMconsortium.html