As part of Global’s partnership with Winkhaus on Global's Composite Fire Doors, this month it took some samples down to the experts at Warrington Fire in High Wycombe for a destructive Fire Resistance Test at their facilities.
Its relationship with Winkhaus and its other partners allows a syndicate of companies to develop skills and knowledge in composite fire door fabrication under the BM Trada Q170 Scheme.
Various testing
This means that Global are all able to conduct various testing with the assistance of companies like Warrington Fire to push the boundaries of every component of the doors, whilst sharing test data to assure Global employ only the most resistant elements.
Each element of the doors ensure they can maintain a barrier against fire and smoke
With this, Global can be certain that each aspect of doors, such as intumescent sealants, ironmongery, glazing, or insulation components, is going to perform to the high standard it wants them to. It is incredibly important that each element of the doors it manufactures work to their fields of application to ensure they can maintain a barrier against fire and smoke, as well as perform a high level of security against possible break-ins.
Components of a Burn Test
As part of the preparation for the Burn Test, the Global team traveled down to High Wycombe with Global composite door samples ready to install with the help of Winkhaus and Warrington Fire’s experts.
With this being a destructive test involving live flame, it is incredibly important that all procedures in line with BM Trada Q170 are followed and the door sets are installed properly to avoid any mishaps or accidents during testing.
Fire Resistance testing
Doors are fitted with thermocouples to monitor the temperature the sample reaches during the test
The test itself measures doors against BN EN1634-1, testing them to industry legislative standards. The following Monday, the team ventured back down to Warrington Fire to watch their team of technicians put the doors through their Fire Resistance testing.
To measure the performance of the doors, they are fitted with a series of sophisticated thermocouples to monitor the temperature that each section of the sample reaches during the test. This allows Warrington Fire’s experts to assess the performance of the door against their guidelines.
Smoke, Security, and Fire tests
Global's composite fire door sets are FD30 rated, meaning they are built to withstand fire, smoke, and heat for 30 minutes. With this in mind, the test was conducted for 30 minutes + 20% to ensure our doors could live up to their fire ratings in the event of a fire.
Global are incredibly grateful to the fantastic team at Warrington Fire for all of their help conducting Smoke, Security, and Fire tests over the past few weeks.