Technical

The performance of Firefree coatings have been fully tested and validated. Each of the Firefree coatings have different markets and applications and such applications have passed the most stringent tests.  As a group, Firefree coatings have been tested, and have passed, on numerous wall and ceiling assemblies to ASTM E-119, equivalent to UL263/NFPA 251, for 1 and 2 hours, and on Room Corner Testing standard UBC 26-3, equivalent to FM 4880/UL 1715, and UBC 8-2.  Further tests include ASTM E-1623 (I-Cal); UBC Standard 26-2 Thermal Barrier (see Tested Assemblies for a complete list), as well as monitored house burns.  In addition to construction assemblies, Firefree coatings have been tested on aviation (FAA Listing on Carbon Fibre), maritime and transportation assemblies.  Firefree coatings have been approved by Factory Mutual, a division of FM Global, classified by Underwriters Laboratories (U/L) and tested at third party accredited International Accreditation Service (IAS) fire testing laboratories.

Depending on the specific Firefree coating to be used, the tests were performed on a variety of substrates including sheetrock, wood, lath & plaster, concrete, sheet metal, tin, foam, composite panels and advanced materials such as fiberglass and carbon fiber. Extensive third party testing has been conducted at accredited IAS fire testing laboratories including Western Fire Center, Omega, Southwest, U.L., Intertek Testing Services (Omega Point Laboratories), Warnock Hersey and the University of California Forest Products Lab. In addition, Firefree Coatings Inc. has selected BRANZ Laboratories, an internationally recognized weatherization and fire testing laboratory, to perform weatherization and fire testing to meet the new Urban Wildland Interface fire testing criteria for the US, Australia, New Zealand and other countries worldwide.

Firefree coatings have been shown to withstand temperatures of up to 2000° Fahrenheit for up to two hours. By comparison, an average fire will burn at about 1000° F to 1500° F (it is estimated that the World Trade Center burned at around 1700° F for about 45 minutes).

Firefree Coatings are unique because of their unmatched level of performance either as fire retardants (prevents flame spread/flashover) or as fire resistants (resists fire penetration), or, in some cases, both.

Firefree Coatings are the first  coatings to pass the fire industry’s tests for fire retardants and/or fire resistants.As a result, they have the proven ability to contain a fire or reduce the impact of fire by preventing both (i) the occurrence of flashovers, and (ii) the fire from penetrating walls and ceilings, thus resulting in saving lives and preserving the structural integrity of property.

Firefree Coatings have passed the fire industry’s most stringent tests for fire retardants.The first generation of fire coatings (“fire retardants”) were based on the now obsolete concept that fires spread mainly horizontally. Thus, these coatings were designed to slow the horizontal progress of a fire (providing little fireproofing) and were only required to pass the simple ASTM E 84 test, which measures horizontal flame spread and smoke development over a 10 minute test period. The testing is usually performed on low or non-combustible materials such as cement board, douglas fir or red oak.

As the industry’s understanding of fire grew, it became apparent that the greatest fire spread is vertical flame spread. As the initial materials burn, the flames will travel vertically and gases will collect at the ceiling. These gases ignite causing flashover, a fireball explosion that will burst into other parts of the structure. Firefree coatings are the first coatings to have passed the most comprehensive and stringent fire retardant tests: (i) the vertical flame spread/flashover (UBC 26-3/FM 4880/UBC 8-2 room corner tests) and (ii) the Factory Mutual 4975 hydrocarbon ceiling test, all of which have passed on a wide variety of materials including wood, cellulose ceiling tiles and gypsum board, depending on which Firefree coating needed to be used for a specific assembly.

Firefree coatings have passed the fire industry’s most comprehensive and stringent tests for fireresistance. Another key factor in flame spread is fire penetration of the walls or ceilings. As the initial materials burn, the fire will penetrate walls and ceilings, leading to their rapid deterioration and a resulting spread of the flames to adjoining rooms. Additionally, the penetration of the fire in the walls and ceilings will lead to their contributing to the fire itself, by becoming fuel to the initial flames. Firefree coatings are the first coatings to have passed the most stringent fire resistance test, the ASTM E119 fire penetration test, on a wide variety of materials.

Firefree coatings represent a next generation step in fire fighting by creating a new level of compartmentation. From the numerous room and house burns performed by Firefree Coatings, Inc. over the last several years, the company has shown that, depending on the dry mil thickness applied to entire walls and ceilings of rooms, it can resist a fire in excess of 2000F up to two hours and thus contain fire to the room of origin. The Firefree coatings’ fire resistance abilities help to prevent fire penetrations at walls and ceilings and help to reduce the chances of room flashover.

The Firefree coatings which passed the ASTM E-119 tests have proven their fire resistant capacities and when applied to a substrate will prevent the fire from penetrating the walls andceilings made of such substrate.Without Firefree coatings, as the initial materials burn, fire will start penetrating the walls and ceilings, leading to their rapid deterioration and a resulting spread of the flames to adjoining rooms. Additionally, the penetration of the fire into the walls and ceilings will lead to their contributing to the fire itself by becoming fuel to the initial flames. With Firefree coatings, the walls and ceilings will resist fire penetration and, as a result, they will not allow the spread to other rooms and they will not become fuel to the flames. 

The Firefree coatings which passed  the UBC 26-3/FM 4880/UBC 8-2 room corner tests and the FM 4975 hydrocarbon ceiling test, have the proven ability to prevent vertical flame spread, smokegeneration and room flashover. Without Firefree coatings, the initial flames will be fueled by the walls and ceilings and such flames will travel vertically with gases collecting at the ceiling. These gases will soon ignite causing flashover, a fireball explosion that will burst into other parts of the structure. With Firefree coatings, the walls and ceilings will not contribute to the fire thereby  dramatically reducing the fuel load in a room, creating less heat and, in most cases, preventing flashover. The only items that can become fuel are the objects within the room itself. This concept of preventing flashover is documented in the numerous room corner tests that Firefree Coatings, Inc has performed on numerous substrates. 

By creating this type of compartmentation, the time/temperature curveof a fire in a room can be dramatically altered.In most situations, the walls and ceiling will become fuel and contribute to the fire. As a result, the time/temperature curve will continue to rise, gases will buildup at the ceiling and at around 750F (room flashover temperature) these gases will ignite.  Once ignited, the room will erupt in a ball of flame (flashover) with the fire quickly spreading throughout the structure. The whole process takes a mere seven to ten minutes from the start of the fire. In a situation where the walls and ceilings are coated with Firefree88, just the opposite will occur.  The walls and ceilings will not contribute to the fire, significantly altering the time/temperature curve. The curve, instead of going up and climbing steadily will instead reach a peak below flashover conditions within a matter of a few minutes and will quickly start dropping off.  No large amounts of gases will collect at the ceiling and flashover will be prevented.

Firefree Coatings have passed the fire industry’s most stringent tests, including the ability to prevent both vertical spread/flashover (UBC 26-3/FM 4880/UBC-8-2 room corner tests and FM 4975 hydrocarbon ceiling tests, fire retardants) and fire penetration (ASTM E-119, fire resistance).

UBC 26-3 /FM 4880/UBC8-2, room corner tests. This category of test was developed to test various types of substrates and materials to evaluate a product’s ability to reduce or eliminate fuel contribution, flame spread, smoke development and prevention of flashover within a room. The test is conducted as follows:  Essentially, the test involves a room 8’ & 12’ in size with 8’ceilings.  The material to be tested is placed along one 12’ wall and one 8’ wall and extends from floor to ceiling. Materials are also place in an 8’x8 section of the ceiling directly above the wall panels.  The ignition source is then placed in the corner of the perpendicular wall panels.  In the case of the UBC 26-3 (foam, foam composite, wood, fiberglass, etc.) test, a 30-pound wood crib is used as an ignition source and run for a 15 minute time period. In the case of the UBC 8-2 (fabrics), a sand burner is used.  The ignition source is run for 5 minutes at 40kw and for 10 minutes at 150kw.
In any case, if there is no protection, the flames will quickly start moving in an upward or vertical direction. As the flames travel vertically and the room materials (walls, ceilings) become fuel to the fire, gases collect at the ceiling. These gases will soon ignite causing flashover, a fireball explosion that will burst into other parts of the structure.  What makes Firefree’s coating so important is that, from the beginning, the coating will prevent the vertical spread of the fire and any build up of gases causing flashover thus preventing the spread of the fire to other rooms. Some Firefree coatings have passed room corner testing on numerous wood substrates and polyurethane foam.  To our knowledge, no other product has been able to pass the room corner test on these materials.

NFPA 286, Room Corner Test, Sand Burner.  This test standard is designed to evaluate a product’s ability to reduce or eliminate fuel contribution, flame spread and prevention of flashover of foam products within a room. The test is performed inside an 8’x 12’ room with 8’ ceilings using an ignition source consisting of a gas powered sand burner generating a 50kw heat source for 5 minutes and 160kw for 10 minutes. The walls and ceiling of each room are coated with 3 inches of foam on the walls and 51/2 inches of foam on the ceiling, with a foam coating thickness variation of plus or minus ½ inch. This stringent test standard has been adopted by NFPA as a result of the dramatic foam fires that have occurred and continue to occur with the increased use of foam products in building structures.

FM 4975, Hydrocarbon Ceiling Test This test measures the rate at which fire will travel on a ceiling and shows a product’s ability to prevent smoke, flame spread and heat release across an expansive ceiling area such as would be found in a large industrial building.This test is quite severe as Factory Mutual designed the pass/fail criteria based on an actual ceiling fire which destroyed an industrial automobile plant in Michigan.

Firefree Coatings, Inc. performed 4975 testing on materials most commonly used in construction (wood, cellulose ceiling tiles and gypsum board). To our knowledge, no other coating has passed equivalent testing on a range of substrates, such as 1x4 T&G Fir, ½” cellulose ceiling ties and ½” gypsum.

ASTM E-119, Fire Resistance This test is the standard time/temperature curve based on postflashover conditions. The test measures the ability of wall and partition systems, floor ceiling and roof ceiling systems to stop flame or hot gases penetrating thru the assembly. Assemblies are tested under time (one hour or more) and temperature (1800F or more) conditions. Assemblies are tested under loaded and non-loaded conditions.

The test is conducted as follows: The wall or ceiling assembly is placed either vertically or horizontally on one side of an oven. Thermocouples (temperature recorders) are placed on the exterior side of the assembly to record temperatures passing thru the wall and ceiling assemblies.  On the opposite side, 24 gas flames that can reach over 2,000 degrees blast away at the assembly for up to two hours or more.  These flames are thrown at the wall trying to incinerate the entire wall.  In almost all cases, an unprotected wall will collapse. What makes Firefree coatings so impressive is that our coating reflects the heat away from the wall keeping the temperature of the wall in a safe range.  The wall or ceiling is kept structurally intact. Firefree testing is always conducted in “real world” conditions.

FM 3971, Cable Test This test standard measures flammability, salt water exposure, current carry capacity, ampacity and dielectric strength. Firefree Cable is fully tested and proven.  It has been tested to all recognized international standards and is chemical, water and weather resistant.  Firefree Cable has passed ageing and weathering (25 year exposure) testing as well as Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

Firefree Cable is a water-based, ablative fire protection especially developed for flame propagation along vertical and horizontal cables and cable trays. Firefree Cable will also delay short circuit, whereby circuit integrity depends on the distance of the cables from the fire and incurred temperature. Firefree Cable is the first coating to bring a true fire barrier to a wide variety of individual cables and cable trays for both interior and exterior.  As a result, Firefree Cable can provide a high level of fire protection for sites with extensive cable usage, such as industrial sites, research, private and government facilities.

 

FIRE SAFETY

For various reasons, including (i) the very different circumstances that may exist from one fire to another, (ii) the differences between conditions in an actual fire and laboratory conditions in which testing is conducted and (iii) the inherent variability of fire tests, passing a laboratory test or certifying/labeling any Firefree coating for use in specific assemblies/systems, does not mean that the same application of such Firefree coating will necessarily provide equivalent protection or the same result in an actual fire or in a new laboratory test.  Firefree coatings will only contribute to slowing fire spread for the area where applied and will not, by themselves, prevent a fire from starting or continuing.  The amount by which Firefree coatings retard a particular fire will depend, among other things, on (i) the amount of Firefree coating applied, (ii) the conditions of the other elements of the assembly incorporating a Firefree coating and (iii) the conditions of the fire itself.  Firefree coatings will not make a fire any less dangerous to persons or property.  Firefree Coatings, Inc. cannot guarantee that loss or injury will not be suffered by persons or property as a result of a fire.  It is the sole responsibility of the applicator to ensure that Firefree coatings are applied in accordance with the application directions.  It is the responsibility of the occupier to ensure the paint is not cracked, chipped or peeling.