The timing at testing in a fire resistance test furnace for walls can be different depending on the standards that are evaluating and other requisites. These tests are usually from 30 min to 4 h long, considering the kind of resistance material or product that will be resistant. Thus guarded to standard fire behavior time intervals reflecting ASTM E119, and ISO 834 as industry proven appropriate times that types of materials can exposure in a required fire test.
Fire-rated doors are usually tested for 90 minutes since this is a common timeframe in both commercial and residential settings. ABOVE — The door is heated by the furnace to over 1800°F, while monitoring key parameters including structural integrity and heat transfer This lead to one of the major fire-proofing materials testing being passed where, according to a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report in 2023, these test passing materials decreased fire spread by even up to 50% in high-risk environment.
Frequently, wall assemblies and other vertical barriers are tested for 2 to 4 hours, especially where the application is industrial or high-rise building. The large-scale tests provided the assurance that walls could hold back flames and heat for extended periods of time, giving occupants a more reasonable amount of time to escape. In a test published back in 2022 by UL, a fire-resistant wall lasting over 4 hours kept the unexposed side temperature under 250 degrees F throughout the duration of the testing.
This process will carry a 15-30 minute pre-test to calibrate the furnace—assuring that equal temperatures are distributed. After the active testing phase is complete, an approximately equivalent cooling period may be necessary to assess residual material strength and deformation. The entire cycle can stretch the total testing time to as much as 20 – 30% beyond the resistance duration specified.
“Fire resistance is time — time to exit, time to suppress, and time to fully protect,” stated fire safety researcher Dan Madrzykowski. This speaks to the need to evaluate materials under more realistic fire conditions which also account for longer exposure times.
Vertical equipment fire resistance test furnace of high quality provides us better performance and more accuracy in these tests. Data acquisition systems in these advanced furnaces record over 1,000 readings per second about what the material is doing over time. Find out how the Fire Resistance Test Furnace for Vertical can help assess material safety and compliance.