Leverkusen, Germany -- Sandwich panels consisting of two metal facings and a polyisocyanurate (PIR) rigid foam core have long been used for the efficient thermal insulation of warehouses, cold stores and other industrial buildings.
Bayer MaterialScience has now developed a more environmentally compatible PIR foam system with significantly enhanced fire behaviour and says this has "clear benefits over established systems, especially when it comes to smoke gas development."
Metal-faced sandwich panels based on this product achieve a B-s1,d0 classification in the DIN EN 13823 Single Burning Item (SBI) test, with s1 representing the lowest smoke-gas development class and d0 indicating that there are no flaming droplets.
In recent years, BMS note, the SBI test has increasingly become a standard requirement in Europe for the fire and smoke behaviour of building components, as in the new European standard for sandwich panels - DIN EN 14509.
"The B-s1,d0 classification enables our customers to undertake construction projects that are subject to stringent requirements in terms of components' fire and smoke behaviour and where it was previously essential to use inorganic core materials based on mineral wool to achieve smoke class s1," said Harald Wolf, head of Marketing for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at BaySystems Insulation.
"The new development creates an additional market segment for polyurethane-based metal-faced sandwich panels," he added.
"
