TBA Firefly and Brickworks successfully passed a tough AS5113 façade test at the Exova Warringtonfire Australia Expo Day.
Organised by Michelle Meek from CPD Solutions and facilitated by Exova Warringtonfire at their Dandenong Testing Facility, the Expo Day began with presentations by Dr Jonathan Barnett of Red Fire Engineers, Cathy Inglis of Brickworks Building Products and Brett Dundules, Senior Technical Officer at FPAA.
Since TBA Firefly was unable to secure CLT panels for the test, the façade test specimen consisted of a lightweight 90mm x 45mm timber frame, R2 glasswool insulation batts and a standard grade 10mm plasterboard on the non-fire side.
The frame and insulation were protected with TBA Firefly (Breathable) 6mm thick fire barrier stapled directly to the face of the frame, and overlaid with TBA Firefly (Breathable) non-combustible sarking, with 35mm steel top hats screw fixed through the TBA Firefly layers into the timber frame. Brickworks’ Inex 16mm façade boards were then screw fixed to the steel top hats, and all horizontal and vertical joints of the boards were sealed using TBA Firefly Intusil WB fire rated sealant.
Although AS5113 utilises the BS8414 Test Method, the pass/fail criteria of AS5113 is tougher than the requirements of BR-135 and LPS-1852. TBA Firefly and Brickworks not only passed the requirements of AS5113 but did so protecting the worst possible scenario of a structural lightweight timber frame.
