What Fire Rating Can GRC Curtain Walls Achieve? Analysis and Practical Applications

Dual Protection of Safety and Aesthetics: GRC Curtain Wall Fire Rating Analysis and Engineering Practice Guide

In modern curtain wall design, fire performance has become one of the core indicators for measuring building safety. As a specialist deeply rooted in the field of glass fiber reinforced concrete (GRC), Qinglong Group, drawing on 28 years of full industry chain experience and the requirements of the Code for Fire Protection Design of Buildings (GB50016), presents the industry with a professional interpretation of GRC curtain wall fire performance and practical engineering solutions.

Technical Foundation and Certification Standards of GRC Curtain Wall Fire Ratings

GRC material itself has the inherent advantage of Class A non-combustibility. Its main components are alkali-resistant glass fiber and Portland cement, and testing shows that its combustion performance reaches Class A1 under the GB8624-2012 standard. By adjusting the glass fiber content (typically 6-8%) and adopting special mix proportion design, the GRC curtain wall panels produced by Qinglong achieve a fire resistance breakthrough of 1.5-3 hours while maintaining flexural strength ≥15MPa. It is worth noting that the overall fire performance of a curtain wall system must pass structural integrity testing. The Technical Standard for Building Application of Glass Fiber Reinforced Cement (GRC) (JGJ/T423-2018), which Qinglong helped compile, clearly specifies the fire isolation construction requirements between GRC curtain walls and the main structure.

Full-Chain Control: Fire Protection Solutions from Material Formulation to Engineering Application

In material production, Qinglong adopts a fully automated spray-up forming process to ensure that glass fibers are evenly distributed in three dimensions within the matrix, forming a continuous fire-resistant skeleton structure. For the special needs of super high-rise projects, the lightweight GRC fire-resistant composite panel (surface density ≤120kg/㎡) developed by the company passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, achieving a fire compartmentation breakthrough for unitized curtain wall systems in a 300-meter landmark project in Nanjing. During the construction stage, Qinglong's original "3D laser positioning + modular installation" technology ensures seamless joining of fire-resistant sealing strips with GRC components. The Dongguan Women and Children's Activity Center project undertaken by the company won the first GRC Building Engineering Innovation Award, confirming the perfect integration of fire protection technology and architectural aesthetics.

Fire Rating Adaptation Strategies for Different Scenarios

For crowded places such as commercial complexes, Qinglong provides reinforced GRC curtain wall systems with fire resistance of more than 2 hours, meeting the stringent requirements of Curtain Wall (GB/T21086) through built-in fire-resistant rock wool core layers and thermal barrier design of metal connectors. In the field of cultural buildings, such as a provincial museum project, translucent GRC combined with UHPC composite construction achieves a 3-hour fire resistance rating while presenting complex light and shadow artistic effects through parametric design. For overseas projects, Qinglong's GRC products have simultaneously passed the ASTM E119 and BS 476 test standards, successfully meeting the challenge of fire stability in environments with large temperature differences in an airport project in Saudi Arabia.

As a national "Specialized, Refined, Distinctive, and Innovative" enterprise and a standard-setting organization for the GRC industry, Qinglong has always taken fire safety as the core direction of technological innovation. From material R&D to project implementation, it has built a full-process fire control system covering detailed design, manufacturing, and installation. In the future, Qinglong will continue to explore composite fire protection technologies combining GRC with UHPC, GRG, and other materials, providing more innovative solutions for improving the safety performance of building curtain walls and fulfilling its corporate mission of "Creating Aesthetic Architecture".