This practice develops treatment factors that shall be used by fire retardant chemical manufacturers to adjust bending strength design values for untreated plywood to account for the fire-retardant treatment effects. This practice uses data from reference thermal-load cycles designed to simulate temperatures in sloped roofs of common design to evaluate products for 50 iterations.

This practice applies to material installed using construction practices recommended by the fire retardant chemical manufacturers that include avoiding exposure to precipitation, direct wetting, or regular condensation. This practice is not meant to apply to buildings with significantly different designs than those described in 1.3.

Test Method D 5516 caused thermally induced strength losses in laboratory simulations within a reasonably short period. The environmental conditions used in the laboratory-activated chemical reactions that are considered to be similar to those occurring in the field. This assumption is the fundamental basis of this practice.

1.1 This practice covers procedures for calculating bending strength design adjustment factors for fire-retardant-treated plywood roof sheathing. The methods utilize the results of strength testing after exposure at elevated temperatures and computer-generated thermal load profiles reflective of exposures encountered in normal service conditions in a wide variety of continental United States climates.

1.2 Necessarily, common laboratory practices were used to develop the methods herein. It is assumed that the procedures will be used for fire-retardant-treated plywood installed using appropriate construction practices recommended by the fire retardant chemical manufacturers, which include avoiding exposure to precipitation, direct wetting, or regular condensation.

1.3 The heat gains, solar loads, roof slopes, ventilation rates, and other parameters used in this practice were chosen to reflect common sloped roof designs. This practice is applicable to roofs of 3 in 12 or steeper slopes, to roofs designed with vent areas and vent locations conforming to national standards of practice, and to designs in which the bottom side of the sheathing is exposed to ventilation air. These conditions may not apply to significantly different designs and therefore this practice may not apply to such designs.

1.4 Information and a brief discussion supporting the provisions of this practice are in the Commentary in the appendix. A large, more detailed, separate Commentary is also available from ASTM.

1.5 The methodology in this practice is not meant to account for all reported instances of fire-retardant plywood undergoing premature heat degradation.

1.6 The values stated in inch-pound units are to be regarded as standard. The values given in parentheses are mathematical conversions to SI units that are provided for information only and are not considered standard.

1.7 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.