Fire Resistant Rainscreen Cladding

继Grenfell Tower火灾之后，有关高层建筑覆层的行业一直在努力寻找既安全又经济可行的替代覆层材料。技术上的挑战是找到一种防火、轻质、耐用、隔热并能支撑自身重量（足够坚固/工程上足够坚固）的解决方案。使用常规材料不容易实现这种性能组合。目前的工业标准是具有铝皮和聚乙烯芯的复合板，虽然这满足了成本、耐久性和重量的要求，但它缺乏足够的隔热能力（因此需要它与隔热层结合使用）和耐火性。鉴于最近发生的事件，聚乙烯芯被观察到熔化并点燃面板下面的易燃绝缘层，后一种特性是最重要的。拟议项目将使用一种材料来制造包层，该材料在暴露于火焰和高温时不会燃烧，熔化或产生有毒或有毒烟雾。这种材料是非氧化性碳-碳混合材料，是高性能制动系统中使用的材料的一种变体。所提出的系统将使用由陶瓷泡沫填充的间隙隔开的这种材料的两个平板，该间隙将提供绝缘性能，并且水可以通过该间隙传导以提供额外的冷却。简单而纤薄的结构将通过降低安装成本和不需要绝缘层来提供具有成本效益的解决方案。这将抵消新面板制造成本的增加。该项目计划持续六个月，并将产品从小规模测试到行业认可测试的全面演示。一个成功的项目将为英国公司在预计5年内将成为150亿美元的市场中创造重要的出口和许可机会。

Following the Grenfell Tower fire the industry sector concerning cladding of high-rise buildings has been endeavouring to find alternative cladding materials that are both safe and financially viable. The technological challenge is to find a solution that is fire resistant, lightweight, durable, thermally insulating and will support its own weight (sufficiently robust /engineeringly substantial). This combination of properties is not easily achieved using conventional materials. Currently the industry standard is a composite panel with aluminium skins and a polyethylene core, whilst this fulfills the requirements of cost, durability and weight, it lacks sufficient insulating capabilities (therefore requiring it to be used in combination with an insulating layer) and fire resistance. The latter property is most important given recent events where the polyethylene core has been observed to melt and ignite the flammable insulating layer below the panel.The proposed project will use a material to make cladding which does not burn, melt or produce noxious or poisonous fumes when exposed to flame and high temperatures. This material is non-oxidising hybrid carbon-carbon, a variant of a material that is used in high performance braking systems. The proposed system will use two flat sheets of this material separated by a ceramic foam filled gap that will provide the insulating performance and through which water may be conducted to provide additional cooling. The simple and slimline construction will provide a cost-effective solution through the reduction of installation costs and the non-requirement for an insulating layer. This will offset the higher cost of manufacture of the new panel.The project is planned to last six months and take the product from small scale testing through to a full scale demonstration in an industry recognized test. A successful project will produce significant export and licensing opportunities for UK companies in what is projected to become a $15bn market in 5 years time.