REACTION TO FIRE
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FIRE TESTING
Warringtonfire offers a comprehensive range of fire safety services, globally. Our services include fire safety engineering, fire testing, fire assessment and product certification. Warringtonfire can help with all aspects of fire and life safety.
Warringtonfire testing services include fire testing to a large number of national and international standards. Warringtonfire laboratories in Australia, UK, Europe, Asia/Asia Pacific, Middle East and Americas are accredited to ISO 17025 by the relevant testing accreditation bodies. In addition, many of our staff are recognised as international experts in their field and are actively involved in the development of new test procedures.
Our business has been built on consistency of service, commitment to our clients and our people, and our growing desire for excellence in our profession. Our dedicated team of engineers and technicians are experts in their field with in-depth local knowledge. We provide every client with a dedicated team consisting of engineers, a project manager and support staff to ensure your project is delivered on time and to budget. When we work with you, we become a part of your team.
Warringtonfire offers a comprehensive range of standard fire test and evaluation facilities. Quick turnaround and a prompt customer service have made Warringtonfire a recognised leader in meeting the needs of suppliers and manufacturers of numerous industries. We also offer remote witnessing for real-time access to any test conducted in our laboratory.
We have an established and extensive presence in Australia including our NATA accredited laboratory in Melbourne and our consulting offices located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Perth.
BUILDING ASSURANCE SOLUTIONS FOR A COMPLEX WORLD CER
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Building assurance in the minds of our customers and offering solutions for a complex world underpins everything that we do at Warringtonfire. To consistently deliver on our promise, we work to three guiding principles, technical excellence, operational excellence and customer excellence.
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REACTION TO FIRE RE ACTION TO FIRE TESTING
A S 1530.1 COMBUSTIBILIT Y TEST
Reaction to fire tests are used to evaluate the contribution of material to fire growth. These tests tend to be smaller in scale and are used on specific components or materials. Test specimens may be samples of material or representative components that may be exposed to a growing fire such as room contents, furniture, wall and ceiling linings. Reaction to fire tests are commonly specified in codes and regulations in both the building and transport sectors.
The test is used to determine the combustibility of a homogeneous material. The National Construction Code (NCC) requires non-combustible materials to be used for external walls and common walls, including all components incorporated in them such as the facade covering, framing and insulation. The test criteria for deeming a material combustible include flaming for periods of longer than five seconds and a temperature rise of 50°C of either the furnace or specimen surface thermocouples used during the test.
WALL AND CEILING LININGS Wall and ceiling linings in Australia are controlled by the use of Group Number classifications, defined in AS 5637.1, where the Group Number of a material gives an indication of the time to reach flashover, or a Heat Release Rate of 1MW, under standard test conditions. AS 5637.1 allows for prediction of Group Numbers using small-scale cone calorimetry testing in accordance with AS/NZS 3837 or ISO 5660-1. Predictions can only be used for materials where a correlation between AS ISO 9705 and AS/NZS 3837 or ISO 5660-1 has been established and for suitable materials. ISO 5660-1, AS/NZS 3837 and AS ISO 9705 are all based on oxygen consumption calorimetry. The measured Heat Release Rate can then be used to determine the Group Number of the tested material as defined in AS 5637.1. Where a Group Number cannot be predicted from AS/NZS 3837 or ISO 5660-1 test data, we can determine Group Numbers by using the AS ISO 9705 apparatus to measure the time to flashover directly. E X TERNAL CL ADDING The classification standard AS 5113 provides an alternative solution pathway for the verification of external wall systems made from combustible materials. It is based on international standards and adopts the testing procedures prescribed in ISO 13785 part 2 and BS 8414 Part 1 and 2, for “Fire Performance of External Cladding Systems”.
OTHER SMALL SCALE TESTS Warringtonfire offer other small scale reaction to fire tests called upon in the NCC. These tests include: • AS 1530.2 Test for flammability of materials – for sarking materials and drapery. • AS 1530.3 Simultaneous determination of ignitability, flame propagation, heat release and smoke release – for fixed seating, proscenium curtains, insulation, duct work, and other materials. • ISO 1716 Determination of the gross heat of combustion (calorific value) – bomb calorimeter. • AS ISO 9239-1 Determination of the burning behaviour using a radiant heat source – critical radiant flux (CRF) – for floor linings and coverings. • ASTM D5630 Standard test method – for ash content in plastics. KE Y CONTACT DETAIL S Warringtonfire Australia Unit 2, 409-411 Hammond Road Dandenong, Victoria t: +61 3 9767 1000 e: info.fire.melbourne@warringtonfire.com
These test standards evaluate the reaction to fire performance of a cladding system subject to fire breaking out of an opening (such as a window) in an external wall as well as the potential for fire to re-enter at a higher level. Warringtonfire offers the External Wall fire spread test, in addition to the ‘Building to building” fire spread test which simulates a fire breaking out in an adjacent building.
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