Special Flame-retardant lacquers and oils: properties & legislation

FIREPROOF CONSTRUCTION STARTS WITH FIREPROOF MATERIALS

THE FIRE SAFETY OF FLOOR COVERINGS IS ALSO REGULATED

LOBADUR Sealer FR, Photo: LOBA

In order to be able to speak of a fireproof building, the circle must be complete. In other words, all aspects of fire safety must be taken into account or else that safety can never be guaranteed. We can compare this perfectly to insulation: 'A little insulation' is completely useless. When designing a building, we therefore not only take into account the flammability of materials and their potential contribution to a possible fire, but also the risk of the fire spreading to another room (compartmentalisation) or to a neighbouring building (fireproof urbanisation).

Legislation has become 'imperative’ Now that the European regulations have included fire safety among the six basic properties (in addition to stability, health, safety in use, noise pollution, and energy savings) of construction products through the Construction Products Directive, this topic has inevitably received more attention. Thank goodness for that! There are still too many victims of fire incidents. The Construction Products Directive has since become a regulation. As a result, the authorities and all those involved in the construction industry will have to 'tighten things up' in a certain sense. Countries which have ignored the Construction Products Directive and largely neglected the CE marking will no longer be able to do so. The fact that the suppliers of the products will have to submit a declaration of conformity is only one of the more stringent measures. Fire safety is now one of the six fundamental requirements that buildings and building materials must meet. Specific requirements have now been set for the fire safety of materials, in both new construction and renovation, partly depending on the purpose of a building. This also applies to wooden floors.

Fireproof material. What is that? The terms 'fire resistance' and 'fire reaction' are of crucial importance in the language of fire fighting. In this debate, it is essential to clarify once again the distinction between the two concepts. Without a good understanding of those terms, the rest makes no sense.

Fire resistance When we talk about fire resistance, this relates to the function of a building material in the total construction and to the length of time that the material actually fulfils that function. In other words, the fire resistance (today REI/formerly RF) of a building element is the time in minutes that a building element simultaneously meets the following criteria: - Stability (R): time that the element retains its supporting function (for elements with a supporting function). - Flame retardance (E): the time during which no flames spread to the unexposed side of the wall (for partition elements). - Thermal insulation (I): the time during which the temperature on the unexposed side does not rise above a certain thermal threshold.

Wooden floor finishes (parquet, laminate, etc.) have no real function other than a decorative one. Wooden supporting structures (beams, trusses, etc.) do, of course. These can be effectively protected by 'fire-retardant paints or coatings' which, among other things, improve their stability. These fire-retardant paints (swell paints) create a protective insulating layer in the event of a fire.

Fire reaction The reaction of a material in case of fire is, on the one hand, a measure of the flammability of that material and the extent to which that material contributes to the development of the fire. The fire reaction is expressed in seven 'classes'. The fire reaction classes are defined in the EN 13501-1 standard.

CLASSES CONTRIBUTION TO FIRE FLAMMABILITY

Class A1 No contribution at all Non-combustible Class A2 Hardly any contribution Practically non-combustible Class B Very limited contribution Very difficult to burn Class C Large contribution Combustible Class D High contribution Easily combustible Class E Very high contribution Highly combustible Class F Undefined Extremely combustible or untested

The classes can be supplemented by a classification in terms of smoke production/emission (s1 to 3) and drop formation (d0 to 2).

What products are there? There are three important measures (means) to 'adapt' the flammability or fire resistance of materials.

Fire retardants Fire retardants are used to reduce the flammability of plastics. This reduced flammability should significantly increase the 'escape time' (time for evacuation) in case of fire. Most fire retardants are processed into the well-known plastics: polystyrene (PS and HIPS), polyurethane (PUR), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polypropylene (PP) and polyester. The very popular PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is already more or less flame-retardant.

Flame-retardant coatings and/or liquids When we talk about fireproof / fire-resistant parquet lacquer, we are entering the field of the fire reaction of a material. What do we expect from these paints? Unlike fire-resistant paint, a flame-retardant liquid is not intended to protect the floor (for example, by 'swelling'), but rather not to increase the contribution of that material to a possible fire. While, in principle, all floors must comply with tests specified by EN 13501-1, there are exceptions: Those who specify class F(fl) (i.e. the worst class or class indicating that the product has not been tested) are exempted, as well as those who offer a product that appears on the CWFT list (Classification Without Further Testing). The European standard for wooden floor coverings is EN 14342 ‘Wood flooring - Characteristics, evaluation of conformity and marking’. This standard contains the relevant requirements for the CE marking and indicates the appropriate test methods. The list of floors in Table 1 of the CWFT (EN 14342) covers different types of wooden floor with their finish. In order to conform to the requirements of the standard, the floor, together with its finish, must therefore correspond to the proposed class. In other words, a compliant parquet lacquer must not have a negative influence on the fire reaction class.

Flame-retardant paint The purpose of a flame-retardant paint system is to improve the fire resistance of a building material (often steel, but also wood). It consists of a primer, a flame-retardant paint, and a final coat. The specific properties of a flame-retardant paint mean that it protects surfaces which are flammable, relatively flammable, or deformable at a high temperature from the action of a possible fire within certain time and temperature limits. The flame-retardant paint prevents the continuation of flames on the surface, and has a high thermal insulation strength. We speak of an intumescent paint when it forms a noncombustible and insulating foam layer in the event of fire or radiant heat.

From the sector ...

Blanchon

Blanchon does not sell any fire reaction lacquers in the literal sense of that term. Flame-retardant lacquers aims to make flammable materials non-inflammable or to delay the ignition considerably through the addition of certain additives. Blanchon lacquers have high grades in the European classes due to the quality of these products, not the extra additives. Blanchon operates in all lacquer ranges, including waterborne polyurethane in one or two components, traditional PU with seven products in two classes. Test reports give Belmont, Intensive, Polysolid, Polyplus, and SVP Aqua a classification of Cfl-s1 (always on oak), and likewise for the oils Solid Oil (‘Solid Oil’), Wax Oil (‘Huile-Cire’),

Wax Oil SD (‘Huile-Cire SD’), Ecological Oil (‘Huile Environnement’) Cfl-s1 (always on oak), whilst the Oceanic, Initial, and RA Aqua have a classification of Dfl-s1 (always on oak).

Ciranova

Flame-retardant coating products have the function of slowing down or even suppressing the burning process. This is achieved through the elimination of at least one of the elements (fuel-oxygentemperature) necessary for causing and/or perpetuating a fire. Since both physical and chemical effects have an impact on the fire cycle, products with different properties, compositions, and structures are often combined in the formulation for greater effectiveness. It is important to mention here that they do not use any harmful substances (e.g. halogen). For wooden floors the certification is cited in the CE label (EN14342), especially in the section ‘reaction to fire EN13501-1’. The products are divided up into classes (Euroclass) on the basis of standardised tests and according to their contribution to fire. These tests are conducted by recognised institutes, and as regards floors the most important one is the ‘radiant panel test for flooring EN ISO 9239-1’. A detail which is not insignificant in this context is the fact that the entire composite is tested, not just the coating itself. And so, the Ciranova products (UN1CO, a one-coat oil, and Fortico 2C, a PU 2-component varnish) are put in fire class Bfls1 (fl for flooring & s1 for minor smoke development) when applied according to the technical regulations and on a substrate which is produced to comply with the standard EN 312:2010-P2. FORTICO is an on-site product and can therefore be applied on site.

Chimiver

Chimiver offers ECOSTAR RF 15T is a two-component water-based polyurethane flame-retardant lacquer in line with the D.M. 6 Marzo 1992 following the UNI 9796 norm. ECOSTAR RF 15T is suggested for the treatment of wooden floors and wooden materials only for flooring purposes. The class of reaction to the fire is italian 1. ECOSTAR RF 15T has been formulated in order to meet the highest anti slip standard requirements for sportive wooden floors. ECOSTAR RF 15T is in conformity with European standards for sportive wooden floors meeting EN14904 standard's requirements.

Osmo

The world watched in dismay in 2017 as the Grenfell Tower in London was engulfed in flames. Quickly the fire spread over the timber cladding on the high-rise apartment building. As a result of the blaze, consumer demands for fire retardant wood coatings used in construction have grown. To determine the fire classification of construction products and building elements, standardized fire tests are carried out. In these tests, wooden floorboards are treated with maximum 60 g / m² of Osmo Polyx®-Oil. Due to the low amount of coating needed, adding fire retardants will not have a significant effect on the fire behaviour of the flooring. The fire rating is largely determined by the substrate itself. Regardless of whether with or without fire retardants, flooring certified Cfl-s1 (normal flammability) as per EN 14342 and treated with Osmo Polyx®-Oil will achieve the same results.

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