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Firefree’s solution for cladding fires is based on Firefree 88’s existing testing on multiple substrates (metal, aluminum, polyurethane foam , gypsum, wood…) to a variety of standards including ASTM E 119, FM 4975, BS 476 , AS 1530 and EN 13501 and Room Corner tests (UBC-2, UBC 26-3, NFPA 286). Now Firefree 88 has passed a further set of tests, further validating such a retrofit solution.

The tests were conducted to the ASTM 1623 fire test standard, providing a “real world” extreme fire condition to determine the fire resistance of the sample panels in terms of maximum temperature exposure and time as an indication of performance in full scale testing under NFPA 285 the current testing standards currently being used for cladding panels.

The cladding panel, which was coated with FF88 per Firefree Coating’s solution (patent application filed), never got close to reaching the backside failure temperature of 121 C (250F) during the 60 minutes of the test. It reached an equilibrium temperature of 100 C (212 F) indicating a similar result would have been reached with the test extended to 120 minutes. By comparison the control cladding panel, which was not coated with FF88, reached the backside failure temperature of 121 C (250 F) in 6 minutes.

Firefree 88 can also be used in the manufacturing of new cladding panels resulting in non-combustible cladding with the same insulation quality and cost effective manufacturing.

Firefree has developed a retrofit solution (and filed a patent application) for the fire protection of both the interior and exterior of high-rise buildings utilizing combustible cladding.

This solution will not require an extensive retrofitting of the entire exterior cladding, in that no removal or replacement of the existing panels is required, effective fire protection is provided to both the inside and exterior, whether or not the building is protected with automatic sprinklers, and the exterior appearance of the building is not altered. This solution can be implemented in a timely, cost efficient manner without major displacement or disruption of the building occupants, or disruption of the building’s daily operations.

This approach focuses on the protection, utilizing Firefree 88, an intumescent coating on both the exterior and interior of the building. Applying Firefree 88 on the exterior of the building would protect the existing cladding from ignition from interior and exterior sources and would prevent the fire from spreading to other floors. Applying FF88 on specific walls and ceilings on the interior of the building would prevent interior fires to spread within the building within a floor or between floors, eventually reaching the exterior and the cladding.

Firefree 88 can also be used in the manufacturing of new cladding panels resulting in non-combustible cladding with the same insulation quality and cost effective manufacturing.

Firefree Coatings has taken another step in passing testing on cardboard shipping containers. On cardboard boxes coated with Firefree 88 and loaded with lithium batteries, the coating was able to contain the battery fire to within the box and not let it expand outward into the additional boxes that made up the total shipping package of multiple sized boxes.

Additionally the testing on the boxes coated with Firefree 88 showed that the temperatures within a single box, or within a larger box containing multiple boxes did not exceed 400 degrees C within the batteries storage box space. The temperature on the cardboard boxes reach a maximum of 300 C within the heavily loaded smaller storage box, with additional temperature readings around additional boxes ranging from 30 C to 160 C within the larger cardboard box container in which multiple, smaller boxes were also placed.