Fire Resistant Glass

It is also called FIRE-RESISTANT GLASS or FIRE-EFFECTIVE GLASS. Glass is defined as an A-1 class material in terms of its reaction to fire. This means that it is non-flammable, non-charring, non-combustible and non-flammable material. (Materials are defined as A 1, A 2, B, C, D, E and F class in terms of fire resistance. Class F refers to the material with a very high contribution to fire.) However, its properties in TSEN 572-1 and TS EN 572-2 standards used in buildings specified soda lime silicate-float glasses CANNOT PROTECT THEIR INTEGRITY in the face of fire. For this reason, fire resistant glass is a specially designed and manufactured material. CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS REGULATION (2) The features listed under the heading of safety in case of fire guide the tests to be made in this respect. Accordingly, fire resistant materials to be used in construction works should be designed and constructed in such a way as to provide the following in case of fire.

The load-bearing capacity of the constructed structure should not decrease for a specified period of time.
The generation and spread of fire and smoke within construction works should be limited.
The spread of fire to surrounding construction works should be limited.
It must be ensured that occupants can safely leave the building or be rescued by other means.
The safety of rescue teams must be considered.

Considering these criteria, fire resistant glasses are classified as follows according to their properties:

LOAD BEARING CAPACITY: The strength of the structural unit to withstand fire when one or more of its faces are exposed to fire within a certain period of time.

INTEGRITY: Fire resistance strength when only one side is exposed to fire, so that the unexposed side does not have significant hot gas and flame transmission.

RADIATION REDUCTION: When exposed to fire for a certain period of time, the fire resistance of the glass building unit, which has a separating feature, is below a certain value of the radiation heat measured on the other side.

INSULATION FEATURE: The fire resistance of the glass building unit, which is exposed to fire on only one side, does not provide significant heat transmission to the other side, and ensures that people are not affected by the heat caused by fire.

SMOKE CONTROL: The ability of the glass structure to prevent the passage of hot or cold gases or smoke from one side to the other.

It should not be forgotten that when we say fire resistant glass, it is not correct to express the expected performance only with the fire resistance performance of the glass itself. FIRE RESISTANCE IS AN INTEGRATED SYSTEM. It applies when measured along with the performance of other elements such as joinery and other mountings, glazing, battens, fastenings and frame material, walls and doors. That is, all these components must be compatible and work together to achieve the required performance, evaluated by reference to appropriate test evidence by an ACCREDITED LABORATORY. In addition, Glass must be tested and graded in an environment appropriate to the environmental factors in the proposed end-use application.

According to the type of raw material, there are four categories of fire resistant glass;

Borosilicate glass
Aluminum silicate glass
Microcrystalline glass
potassium silicate glass

These glasses can be composed of a single glass or can be designed as a laminated or double glass unit. Fire rated glass can only achieve its designed performance when it is part of a complete fire rated glazing system. The oldest known type of fire resistant glass is what we call wire glass. This glass breaks in a fire, but it maintains its integrity thanks to the wires between it, thus delaying the passage of flame or smoke to some extent.

Ceramic: Glass is also used as fire resistant glass, as it has a near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion and a very high softening point that maintains integrity.

Liquid laminated glass, which is produced with liquid materials that are fire-resistant and maintain its integrity, can also function as a fire retardant thanks to this feature of the intermediate layer. .

In terms of production techniques, Fire Resistant Glass is divided into three.

Fire resistant glasses produced by chemical tempering. This is how potassium silicate glasses are produced.
Fully tempered fire resistant glasses.
Borasilicate fire resistant glasses produced by melting.

When we say FIRE RESISTANT GLASS, resistance classes are measured in minutes. Classes commonly available on the market have fire resistance classes starting from 15 minutes up to 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes.

As for the fire resistant double glazing units; Insulating glass units provide fire resistance as long as they contain one of the types of fire resistant glass described above and have been tested for fire performance. However, it is important to note that:

The glass unit within the fire resistant integrated system must have its own fire test or evaluation report based on the test evidence.

Fire resistant insulating glass units used in buildings must be CE marked according to EN1279-5

Mechanical stability: The fireproof element must maintain its mechanical stability during and after testing.
Flameproofing: Flame or flammable gases should not leak from cracks and joints in the structure.
Thermal insulation : Heat radiation proofing to the side that has human or living contact Accordingly, fire resistant glasses are defined by the following codes;

Accordingly, fire resistant glasses are defined by the following codes;

E - fire resistance

EW – provides fire resistance as well as heat radiation limitation

EI – fire resistance and prevents the passage of heat radiation.

When requesting fire resistant glass, it must be specified which of the features such as flame penetration, heat radiation transmission as well as fire resistance period is desired, whether it will consist of a single glass or a multi-layer laminated glass or insulating glass unit. We must bear in mind that each has different combinations.