Patent Fire & Testing

Patent
The Barracuda Brick Slip System has been granted patents in the U.K, EU, USA, Canada and Australia.

Fire
The Barracuda system is comprised of just two material types; stainless steel and aluminium.

Both of these materials are entirely non-combustible and are A1 rated.

The British and European standard that covers the combustibility classification of construction products is;

BS EN 13501-1 2018 Fire classification of construction products and building elements Part 1: Classification using data from reaction to fire tests.

BS EN 13501-1 2018 refers to some material types, which have such well established non-combustibility, they have been included in a list, drawn up by the European Commission which confirms that they are all A1 Non-Combustible without the need for further test.

This list is specific to 'construction products' and is annexed to European Commission Decision 96/603/EC.

The two other material types most immediately associated with the Barracuda system, Bricks and Mortar are also on this list.

Testing
Thorough testing is the essential foundation of successful product development. It is however important to approach any testing regime with the right mind-set. The construction industry expects products to be tested but often test reports aren't read beyond the summary page, if at all. Regrettably, often, a box gets ticked and the test report simply pads out the project file. Whilst the test procedures themselves are usually reasonably well controlled, often the configuration of the test specimen (the test panel) isn't. All too often a manufacturer or supplier will place their entire emphasis on simply 'passing the test' in order to provide that all important 'piece of paper'. Because of this, their test panels are often configured in the most favourable way rather than really putting their product 'through its paces' which means configuring the test panel in the least favourable way.

Often, long term durability tests on brick slip systems are carried out on artificially small panels which minimise thermal movements. Deflections exhibited by the 'backing wall' to which brick slip systems are attached are unrealistic and the full range of potential individual brick slip heights that might conceivably be encountered is conveniently ignored.

The Barracuda system has been rigorously independently tested to ensure that it provides the very highest levels of performance (test report copies are available upon request).

In all cases the minimum test panel size is 3M (H) x 3.6M (W) with a backing wall construction that exhibits deflections equal to or exceeding those likely to be encountered on most actual project constructions.

Barracuda test panels incorporate brick slips that represent the full brick slip height tolerance range in which bricks compliant with BS EN 771 might be supplied. Testing demonstrates that the Barracuda brick slip system achieves its exceptional performance with brick slips that range in height from 58mm to 70mm.

Copies of all testing reports are available to download here and summaries of the testing are given below.

Test Summary
- Watertightness - Static Pressure:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005/BS EN 12154:2000.
Classification / Declared Value: R7 / 600 pascals
Result: Watertightness - Static Pressure = Pass
Result: Controlled Dismantle = Pass

- Watertightness - Dynamic:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005
Classification / Declared Value: 600 pascals
Result: Watertightness - Dynamic = Pass
Result: Controlled Dismantle = Pass

- Wind Resistance - Serviceability:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005/BS EN 13116: 2001
Classification / Declared Value: + 2400 pascals
Result: Serviceability = Pass

- Wind Resistance - Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005/BS EN 13116: 2001
Classification / Declared Value: + 3600 pascals
Result: Safety = Pass
Result: Controlled Dismantle = Pass

- Impact Resistance - Soft Body Serviceability:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Class 1 / 120J
Result: Serviceability = Pass

- Impact Resistance - Soft Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Negligible Risk / 350J and 500J
Result: Safety = Pass

- Impact Resistance - Hard Body Serviceability:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Class 1 / 3J, 6J and 10J
Result: Serviceability = Pass

- Impact Resistance - Hard Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Negligible Risk / 3J and 10J
Result: Safety = Pass

- Long Term Durability - Heat/Rain, Freeze/Thaw, Cyclic Wind Load and Impact Testing:
Testing carried out in general accordance with EAD 090062-00-0404 and DD CEN/TS 772-22: 2006 and CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76

Heat/Rain
The test panel was subjected to 100 No. Heat/Rain cycles.
1. Heating to 70ºC rising for 1 hour, maintain for 2 hours at 10% to 30% RH.
2. Water Spray at 1Litre per M² per minute for 1 hour with water temperature 15ºC.
3. Drain for 2 hours.
Total single cycle time 6 hours.

Freeze/Thaw
The same test panel was then subjected to 100 No. Freeze/Thaw cycles.
1. Temperature to fall from 20ºC to -15ºC in more than 20 but less than 30 minutes. Temperature maintained at -15ºC for more than 90 but less than 100 minutes.
2. Temperature to rise from -15ºC to 20ºC in more than 15 but less than 20 minutes. The total warm air period including the period of temperature rise must be 20 minutes.
3. Water Spray at 6 Litre per LM of sample panel per minute for 120 seconds.
Total single cycle time 150 minutes.

Cyclic Wind Load
The same test panel was then subjected to 7681 No. Wind load cycles.
Wind load cycling was in accordance with BRE Digest 346 Part 7 Table 1.
The following sequence was repeated six times followed by single pulse at design wind pressure, representing 60 years of natural wind exposure.
Wp = design wind pressure
Design wind pressure = + 2400 pascals

1 No. cycle at 0.9 x Wp = + 2160 pascals
960 No. cycles at 0.4 x Wp = + 960 pascals
60 No. cycles at 0.6 x Wp = + 1440 pascals
240 No. cycles at 0.5 x Wp = + 1200 pascals
5 No. cycles at 0.8 x Wp = + 1920 pascals
14 No. cycles at 0.7 x Wp = + 1680 pascals

Result: = Pass

Impact Testing
The same sample was then subjected to the following impact tests.

Impact Resistance - Soft Body Serviceability:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Class 1 / 120J
Result: Serviceability = Pass

Impact Resistance - Soft Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Negligible Risk / 350J and 500J
Result: Safety = Pass

Impact Resistance - Hard Body Serviceability:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Class 1 / 3J, 6J and 10J
Result: Serviceability = Pass

Impact Resistance - Hard Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Negligible Risk / 3J and 10J
Result: Safety = Pass

After all preceding testing was carried out; the test panel was both serviceable and safe with no damage to the panel evident.
Result: Long Term Durability = Pass
Result: Controlled Dismantle = Pass

- Brick Slip Pull Out Testing - Brick Slips in their Un-Mortared (Temporary) State - Wind Resistance - Safety:
Brick slips, representative of all commonly supplied 'shape types' ranging in height from 58mm to 70mm were required to resist a pull-out load of 100N per brick. Each brick slip was required to resist the following sequence of pull-out loads applied perpendicular to the plane of the brickwork without detachment.

3 No. x 85N applied for a 30 second duration with a 30 second recovery period
1 No. x 100N applied for a 30 second duration with a 60 second recovery period
Displacements were measured after each recovery period.

Result: = Pass

- Impact Resistance (Un-mortared) - Soft Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Negligible Risk 500J
Result: Safety = Pass

- Impact Resistance (Un-mortared) - Hard Body Safety:
Testing carried out in accordance with the CWCT Standard Test Methods for Building Envelopes: 2005 TN75 and TN76
Classification / Declared Value: Low Risk 10J
Result: Safety = Pass