Strength of aluminium welds when exposed to fire

Due to the low melting temperature of aluminium, aluminium load bearing components are sensitive to fire exposure. Yet only a limited amount of fundamental studies is carried out on fire exposed aluminium structures. As an example, a well evaluated set of verification rules for the design of connections is not available in design codes, nor literature. This paper gives the results of a study to the strength of aluminium welded connections exposed to fire. First, the influence of heating due to welding or fire exposure on the material strength is argued from a material point of view. The expectations following from this discussion are evaluated with tests. It is concluded that that strength of the heat affected zone, relative to that of the parent material, is higher in fire than that in room temperature.