FIRE SAFETY
DON’T FORGETPRINT
It is important to remember that printed materials can seriously exacerbate fires. Using flame retardant materials has become paramount, suggests Ed Giles of Bex Print & Design.
Fire safety has always been important, but flame- retardant materials have become an expectation or a requirement in a wide range of settings recently.
Tragic events over recent years have led to lessons being learnt and lives being saved by new technologies and improved focuses within tighter regulations. The combustibility of materials in buildings has been an important focus in this conversation.
Of course, flame retardant building materials can be crucial, but it’s also important that printed materials don’t exacerbate a fire.
While flammable materials help to spread fire, flame retardant materials are designed to prevent or slow the growth of fire. Various materials, including inks and plastics for printed products can also produce harmful fumes when exposed to fire and so it’s important that both of these risks are mitigated when it comes to print.
We are seeing more industries using flame retardant materials for print, and a wider variety of applications for them as fire safety has become a vital consideration for designers.
An essential safety standard In industries such as construction where public safety is of the utmost importance, a UL94 V-0 rating is seen as the essential fire safety standard for materials.
To achieve this rating, materials are put through the UL94 standard test for flammability of plastic materials for parts in devices and appliances.
The test measures the self-extinguishing time of materials, and to receive the highest V-0 rating the material must extinguish in less than 10 seconds with no dripping.
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The rating means that in the event of a fire the material would help to resist flames, and not contribute to the spread of a fire.
For many uses, it isn’t essential that printed materials meet these stringent requirements, but for high rise buildings or busy indoor environments, flame retardant materials can save lives.
Highly effective material One material that carries the UL94 V-0 rating is Lexan polycarbonates. The Lexan materials are all velvet flame retardant polycarbonate films, meaning they are an ideal solution for a range of industries.
Alongside its flame-retardant properties, polycarbonate is lightweight (roughly half the weight of glass), durable and easily mouldable.
It may seem too good to be true that such a material stands up to a fire so well. But sheets of polycarbonate minimally contribute to fire spread. That means that once a fire reaches the polycarbonate, the rate of spread will be very slow, particularly when compared to combustible materials.
What’s more, polycarbonate produces very little smoke in the presence of fire.
Wide range of applications So, we’ve established that the Lexan materials are highly fire retardant, but what can they be used for?
The UL94 V-0 rating means that they can be used for a number of purposes. Along with being resistant to flames, the films offer ease of thermoforming, hydroforming, embossing, die-cutting, folding and bending.
Alongside basic printed items such as labels, the Lexan materials are suitable for applications such as printed circuit boards, panels and displays.
https://bex.co.uk twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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