What are flame-retardant boards? Understanding fire resistance ratings is crucial when purchasing flame-retardant boards.

What is flame-retardant board?

In the building materials market, flame-retardant boards have many names, such as flame-retardant plywood, fire-resistant plywood, fire-retardant board, etc.

This type of board is made by rotary cutting logs into wood chips, treating the wood chips with flame retardant, and then gluing them together with adhesives. It is usually made of an odd number of wood chips, with the fiber directions of adjacent wood chips perpendicular to each other. This can largely overcome the defects of wood, greatly improve and enhance the physical and mechanical properties of wood, and also overcome the disadvantage of ordinary plywood being easily flammable, effectively improving the flame retardant performance of plywood.

To ensure personal safety, public places have strict fire prevention requirements for their decoration. Various flame-retardant materials, including flame-retardant boards, are required in public places such as commercial plazas, train stations, libraries, and exhibition halls. In the event of an indoor fire, flame-retardant boards can suppress the spread of fire and reduce its heat, thus buying people precious escape time.

Flame-retardant boards possess five major characteristics: flame retardancy, smoke suppression, corrosion resistance, insect resistance, and stability, making them highly practical.

Flame retardant board classification

GB8624 is the abbreviation for the fire performance classification of building materials and products. It was first released in China in 1988 and has since undergone three revisions: GB8624-1997, GB8624-2006, and GB8624-2012.

GB8624-2006 classifies fire protection levels into seven grades: A1, A2, B, C, D, E, and F.

In the standard GB8624-2012, the fire retardant board is classified into four levels: A, B1, B2 and B3, according to the combustion performance of building materials and products.

Class A is a non-combustible material (product). Achieving Class A flame retardancy is a very high level, and the price is also relatively high.

B1 grade refers to flame-retardant materials (products). Generally, high-end public places use flame-retardant boards with fire-resistant ratings for decoration.

Class B2 is a combustible material (product), but it is not easily ignited and provides some fire protection. This type of board is generally used more in low- to mid-range public places.

Class B3 materials (products) are flammable, have no flame retardant properties, are extremely easy to burn, and pose a great fire hazard.

Currently, most of the flame-retardant boards on the market belong to the B1 fire rating standard. To find out the specific fire rating standard of a flame-retardant board, you usually need to consult the manufacturer.

When purchasing flame-retardant boards, you can ask the manufacturer to provide relevant grade certificates to determine which standard the flame-retardant board's combustion performance belongs to.