Aludecor FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels are All Set to Furnish Indian Railways Coaches

Aludecor – India’s most admired ACP brand has envisioned to lend its hand to building a modern India with world-class Infrastructure that beckons all-encompassing growth across all the other industries. At Aludecor we are proud to have collaborated with the Government of India to play an integral part in cladding an array of Airports, Railway Stations, Institutions and Government Administrative Buildings that crowns our status as a “Make In India” brand.

Aludecor has been presented with the opportunity by Indian Railways and the Integral Coach Factory to supply FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels in order to lend a hand in producing state of the art Coaches for the Indian Railways. Our revolutionary Fire Retardant FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels (MCPs) are being used extensively to furnish the interiors of the Coaches for the Indian Railways. The collaboration uncovers the many possibilities of MCP applications while simultaneously prioritizing Fire Safety to be the top priority when it comes to Passenger welfare. We present to you here, the benefits of Aludecor Firewall A2 MCPs that promise to revolutionize Fire Safety aspects of the Interior Furnishing and Cladding Industry. So far, the Indian Railways Coaches that were manufactured and designed by ICF were using LP sheets and DGFRP or Decorative Glass Fabric Reinforced Plastic Composite Panels for interior furnishing of the Railway Coaches.

By changing the material to Aludecor’s Fire Retardant FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels, the Indian Railways has crowned us with the status of being the “leading vendor for the supply of MCP for interior furnishing of the Indian Railways Coaches”. The Indian Railways Coaches will have an array of added advantages by using Aludecor’s FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels, which are listed below.

Read also: Aludecor launches India’s First A2 Grade Non-combustible MCP on its Foundation Day

DGFRP and LP Sheets – Low Fire Resistant Properties amongst Other Disadvantages

DGFRP and LP sheets are the most commonly used FRP Composites that contain an amalgamation of a thermosetting polymer matrix like vinyl ester, polyester or phenolic resin or epoxy and glass fibre. The glass fibres are reinforced in the matrix that serves as a binder material for the DGFRP and LP sheets while transmitting the applied load to the glass fibres.

Uncertainties about Long Term Property and Durability

DGFRP presents many uncertainties about its long term property and durability, which, limits its chances of being widely used in the Civil Infrastructure Industry. Besides, DGFRP has very low ductility owing to the linear stress-strain relationship that results in sudden brittle failure. Moreover, a lack of proper validated data regarding the Fire-Resistance properties of DGFRP makes it difficult to be used as an interior furnishing material for Railway Coaches. DGFRP stands to be non-eligible in having proper fire resistance for structural members of any furnished surface. When set on fire, DGFRP starts to show degradation of its mechanical properties, thus subjecting structural elements to fire damage. In case of a fire incident, the matrix of the DGFRP showcases low melting temperature owing to its high concentration of combustible materials such as Nitrogen, Carbon and Hydrogen. Besides, the polymers produce a lot of dense smoke that has proven to be toxic to human being due to the vast amount of Carbon Monoxide that is present in it.

Weak Fire-Resistance

To curb these properties, resin additives can be added to DGFRP matrices. Phosphorus flame retardants or Hydrate based flame retardants can be added to the matrix of DGFRP during the manufacturing process only to be found that they have negative effects on the mechanical properties of DGFRP.

Potential Skin Irritants

The raw materials used for manufacturing DGFRP carries a lot of potential skin irritants that require no-touch operations. High risks of CNS and Respiratory Systems damage are also plentiful with DGFRP.

Read also: #BeatTheFire: Industry Experts Discuss the Way Forward on Fire Safety and Preventive Strategies at Mumbai

Aludecor’s FireWall A2 Metal Composite Panels

Enter Aludecor Fire Retardant FireWall A2 MCPs. It shows excellent fire retardant properties that place it to be the number one choice for innovative use cases and applications. Having received the FPC (Factory Production Control) certificate from Exova Warringtonfire (UK), Aludecor’s FireWall A2 ACP Sheet stand to be the best A2 grade interior furnishing material. It contains 90% inorganic mineral content in its core that also makes it boast fireproof properties similar to metals.

An excellent choice to clad high-rises beyond 15 meters, industrial and public buildings, airports, hospitals, hotels, tunnels, and underground stations, Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs release a negligible amount of heat and doesn’t contribute to flame spread at all. No toxic gases or smoke and flaming droplets are produced during any fire incident. FireWall A2 MCPs also ensure negligible damage to property, hassle-free evacuation, and zero chance of casualty.

The core of Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs contains 90% halogen-free, inorganic material that produces water vapour when it heats up. It does not produce toxic gases like halogenated materials. Magnesium hydroxide (MDH) is the non-halogenated material that is mixed with PE to form the core of Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs.

At Aludecor we manufacture the FireWall A2 MCPs indigenously at our two production units that are spread over 25,000 Square Meters in Haridwar.

Aludecor FireWall A2  has Factory Production Control (FPC) certification from Exova Warringtonfire of the UK (ewcl5) for reaction to fire classifications of EN 13501-1 Class A2, s1, d0.

Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs also come with a very high OI or Oxygen Index. The Oxygen Index is a measure of the percentage of Oxygen that has to be present to support combustion of the plastic materials. The required Oxygen Index as set by the ICF and the Indian Railways for the purpose of interior furnishings of Railway Coaches is 32% while Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs boast a minimum Oxygen Index of 70%. The higher the OI value, the higher the non-flammability.

At Aludecor, we only use AL-5005 Marine Grade Alloy to manufacture our FireWall A2 MCPs. This gives FireWall A2 MCPs certain advantages such as high moisture-resistant and corrosion-resistant properties over composite materials like LP sheets and DGFRP. Besides, FireWall A2 MCPs are extremely light in weight, thus posing an advantage to clad the highest of surfaces. The super flexible panels can also furnish any surface as it bends brilliantly! The zero undulation aspect of FireWall A2 MCPs assures smooth surfaces.

Last but not least, Aludecor’s FireWall A2 MCPs are environment-friendly owing to the Aluminium coils that can be easily peeled off from the composite panels. The scrapped coils are usually always sent back to the Aluminium Coil manufacturer who re-utilizes the material to produce new Aluminium Coils. The inorganic mineral core of the FireWall A2 MCPs can be recycled too. The scrapped fire-retardant core is sent to our in-house shredder, which turns it into pellets. Furthermore, these pellets are used as raw materials to produce new MCP core.