How to look at the importance of fire rated curtain wall in tall buildings？

The possibility of a fire is a major concern when constructing a building. To protect those who inhabit these structures, specific attention is paid to the fire-resistance of the building materials. For some buildings that use a glass exterior facade, curtain wall systems have a low fire-resistance rating and as a result, elements such as sprinkler systems are used to increase the fire-resistance rating. These elements allow the fire to spread slowly throughout the building, giving time for those inside to evacuate before the building materials start to fail and collapse.

You can imagine if a fire were to break out in a high-rise building, the spread of fire would be vertical – going from one floor to the next, following with the flow of air currents. This is because the void between the floor and curtain wall are not properly sealed. The fire will affect both sides of the curtain wall system causing premature failure of the wall and potentially the vision glass. In that regard, fire-rated curtain wall becomes popular in the modern tall buildings in recent years. For those considering using fire-rated glazing systems to create design-forward assemblies worthy of such praise, the path to safe and successful installations would not be daunting. However, it necessitates a good working knowledge of the performance and design characteristics of today’s offerings, as the material class has evolved significantly in recent years.

In practical applications, fire-rated curtain wall systems can provide a substantial area of glazing both in interior and exterior locations while defending against the transfer of flames, smoke, radiant and conductive heat. Fire-rated curtain wall systems also employ fire resistive-rated framing materials. Some of today’s more innovative systems use steel that has been roll-formed from thin-gauge steel coils. Furthermore, a supplementary benefit of fire-rated steel curtain wall systems is their ability to achieve nearly any finished look. The steel profiles can be powder coated at the factory, while the exterior cover caps can be manufactured from aluminum or stainless steel and then finish matched. If you are using an aluminum curtain wall system, it can be painted or anodized. The shape of the cover cap can also be customized.

In recent years, in order to achieve the necessary defense, fire-rated curtain wall systems will use transparent glass wall panels of significant heat-blocking capabilities. Manufacturers use different methods to ensure these high-performance products pass the necessary fire tests and remain relatively cool on the non-fire side of the glass curtain walls for the duration of their designated fire rating. And it is believed that one product can achieve this outcome by incorporating layers of low-iron float glass with an intumescent interlayer.