Fire resistance of an element is defined as the ability to maintain its mechanical characteristics and the possibility of limiting heat transmission and smoke resistance when directly exposed to the action of fire.
Fire-resistant glasses are special glasses composed of various plates separated from each other by an intumescent interlayer (a particular type of gel). If necessary, the heat causes the interlayer to expand, which turns into an insulating foam that reacts to the presence of fire and does not allow the spread of flames and smoke.
Fire resistant glasses are designed to respond to 3 different performances:
• resistance to radiation (W): the ability of an element to resist a fire acting on one side only, limiting the transmission of heat by radiation to a specific threshold
• airtightness or tightness (E): the ability of an element to resist the passage of flames and hot gases to the side not exposed to the fire
• insulation (I): the ability of an element to withstand exposure to a fire acting on one side only, preventing it from spreading
We can summarize the above by saying that the degree of fire protection offered depends on the class of glass used (E, EW, EI) to prevent the spread of flames, smoke and increase the degree of protection (insulation) against heat in the event of fire.
GLASS COMPANY S.r.l. has developed FIREMEK, a system for the production of fire resistant glass. FIREMEK contains sophisticated technology combined with extreme ease of use, which has made the production of E, EW and EI glass no longer exclusive and the prerogative of a few producers, but also available to medium / small businesses.
The continuous evolution of the system now allows to prepare the intumescent mixture without errors due to the human component, the automatic weighing of the components, the perfect heating and cooling of the vacuum mixer, the precision of the dispensing pump controlled as weight / volume by the PC, allow to produce daily and replicate over time an extremely transparent and bubble-free silica-based intumescent mixture.
A component of the FIREMEK is the product crosslinking oven, which has been designed to compensate for all the small defects that an inappropriate heating and an unsuitable support base can create in the final part of the production of fire resistant glass.