Isanti Glass, a producer of glass containers to the non-alcoholic, alcoholic beverage, and food industries, just had a glass fire curtain installed by SFE Services. We chose to write about the materials used in fire curtains as a result of its successful completion.
Making complicated structures more secure is revolutionizing building design. Below we discuss fire curtains and what they are materials they’re made out of.
The progression and transformation in building materials have led to more innovative building design, offering architects and engineers greater freedom to offer more in the structures being built. Fire protective fabrics used in fire curtains and smoke curtains have been developed to offer the best possible protection during a fire emergency.
What are fire curtains, and how do they work?
In short, we know that they work by closing off large open spaces to divide them in sections during a fire outbreak.
Fire curtains are what you’d call active fire protection, meaning that the mechanism responds to the presence of fire. Similar active fire protection include systems like alarm-, sprinkler- and smoke curtains. Even though fire curtains are an active type of fire protection, fire curtains are used for compartmentation (aka passive fire protection). For example, in open plan buildings fire curtains are used to compartmentalise in the same way that fire doors are used.
These are sheets made out of fire resistant materials, designed to cover entrances and other access points to try and hold back any fire that could damage the structure. They obstruct the smoke and flames, and by doing so, assist in helping occupants. The fire is then contained in a room, sealed off, preventing any fire from spreading throughout the building and so then also providing more time for the evacuation of occupants.
These curtains are a cost-effective and adaptable option for fire control and -prevention with many benefits for businesses etc.
Fire curtain materials
Since the dangers of asbestos-based products have been recognised in the 70’s and 80’s, the fabrics used for smoke- and fire curtains have progressed a lot. More recently developed materials used in smoke- and fire curtains are proving to result in remarkable changes in the functional properties of fire protective materials.
These fire-prevention mechanisms are made of robust and flexible materials. The main component, of which the functional side of the fire curtains consists out of, is fire resistant fibreglass.
Mostly these curtains consist out of protective materials such as fibreglass and e-glass. The base material then being fibreglass filaments, woven together as a thread in different patterns to strengthen the curtain and also help with elasticity. Developed and made for a specific purpose, these materials are assured to not shrink, stretch out, fall apart, fade or burn.
A standard glass fibre textile can withstand a continuous working temperature of 600 C. and as an added measure glass fibre fabrics can additionally be intertwined with metal threads to strengthen the cloth. This also helps to increase the temperature resistance to about 100 C and lessens the chance of flex fatigue.
Coatings are added to help hold the fabric together, making it more stable. Because of the difficulty of sewing and accumulating the basic cloth, these coatings help to assemble a final fire-resistant product.
For expert advice on Fire Curtains and or Baffles contact our experts at 011 730 8243/4 or
After Hours 064 542 6772.
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