PLEXIGLAS® properties that may save lives
PLEXIGLAS® has outstanding fire properties, which are retained throughout the entire lifetime of the material.
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The most important points
- PLEXIGLAS® burns almost without smoke.
(DIN 4102 and European Class E, DIN EN 13501) - PLEXIGLAS® develops no acutely toxic smoke gases (and is therefore safe).
(DIN 53436) - PLEXIGLAS® has no corrosive effect in the event of fire.
(DIN VDE 0482-267) - PLEXIGLAS® is easily extinguished with water.
- PLEXIGLAS® is approved as a construction material for interior and exterior applications.
- PLEXIGLAS® is classified as B2, normal flammability, without burning droplets.
(DIN 4102). - PLEXIGLAS® is used in public areas such as in kindergartens and schools.
- PLEXIGLAS® has been approved for decades by the aviation industry for use in window glazing.
- PLEXIGLAS® is also tested in accordance with US standard ASTM D 635-81
- PLEXIGLAS® burns almost without smoke.
PLEXIGLAS® secures escape and rescue routes
In fires the biggest problem is not, as might be imagined, the fire itself: About 80 percent of all fatalities occur due to developing smoke gases. In the case of PLEXIGLAS® these are toxicologically safe as defined in DIN 53436, so that escape and rescue routes are assured.
Life-threatening smoke
Dense smoke can compromise the visibility of escape route indicators; moreover, invisible smoke gases may be acutely toxic and lead to asphyxiation. Experts, therefore, consider the fire behavior of materials to be more than just the building material class, i.e., flammability: The type and amount of the smoke gases, the extent to which they obstruct visibility, their toxicity and corrosivity, the fire propagation properties of the material, classification of its dripping behavior under DIN 4102, and, not least, its extinction behavior can often be far more important criteria.
Find out how PLEXIGLAS® behaves on these and other criteria in detail in the Technical Information brochure titled The Fire Behavior of PLEXIGLAS®. This provides more information on the following topics:
- smoke-gas volume
- smoke-gas toxicity
- smoke-gas corrosivity
- fire propagation
- ignition behavior / building material class
- dripping behavior
- extinction behavior
