[SystemSafety] Reynobond panelling Part 2

[Peter Bernard Ladkin]

Something odd went on in sending my last message. The second half was missing, with a substantial
amount of material. It went something like this.

Details of how to go about installing the panels are given in
https://www.arconic.com/aap/north_america/catalog/pdf/specifications/Reynobond_FabricationGuide.pdf
, as well as illustrated in the Brochure (above). There are a variety of methods. One imagines that
some are more fire-resistant than others, for example if between-panel joints are filled with
extremely fire-resistant material, one could well imagine a fire spreading differently from how it
might spread if they are hot-air welded with polyethelene (see p15 of the Fabrication Guide), which
would provide a continual polyethelene substrate.

I gave the URL to the RMS blog on some large-building fires in China in which aluminium-composite
panelling was installed and apparently contributed to the severity. The building in the Melbourne
Docklands fire used Alucobest panelling, according to
http://www.vba.vic.gov.au/a-z-information/audit-of-cladding-on-high-rise-buildings . This appears to
be a product name used by Shanghai Huayuan New Composite Materials Co., Ltd, whose former WWW site
http://www.huayuanfu.com/ appears not to be there, as well as by the Austrian company Concenta
Austria, which illustrates their use on a variety of generally low-profile buildings
https://www.concenta-austria.at/produkt/alucobest-pvdf-alu-verbundplatten/ I have no idea whether
these products are the same.

Since alumimium composite panelling is available from Chinese companies, I doubt whether the Chinese
building fires involved Reynobond panelling (but I don't know for sure).

The Victoria State cladding report following the Melbourne fire mentions the installation method as
key (p4 of
http://www.vba.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0016/39103/VBA-External-Wall-Cladding-Report.pdf
"ACP" stands for "Aluminium Composite Panel".): "The MFB report into the Lacrosse building fire
identified the external wall cladding material as an ACP product, Alucobest, and that it had been
used in a non-compliant manner. The Alucobest product contained a combustible polyethylene core
material, which is common amongst many ACP products. ACP products are manufactured both locally and
overseas. The core material of an ACP is the predominant contributor to combustibility, however the
method of the ACP attachment to a building is also a factor in the rate of any fire spread."

It thus appears that the Grenfell Tower fire is indeed without precedent, in that it is the first
involving Reynobond. I'll guess that the installation method will become a focus of inquiry. It may
well be that some new engineering science comes out of this. I imagine Alcoa is very concerned.

PBL

Prof. Peter Bernard Ladkin, Bielefeld, Germany
MoreInCommon
Je suis Charlie
Tel+msg +49 (0)521 880 7319  www.rvs-bi.de





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