Fire retardant Hempcrete building products

Fire testing Australian Hemp Masonry Company building materials

1. Fire testing on AHMC hemp-lime rendered hemp masonry wall system

Testing at  Ignis Labs, a NATA accredited laboratory on 12 September 2024 confirmed that "where installed in accordance with product installation instructions provided by Australian Hemp Masonry", Australian Hemp Masonry's products are suitable for BAL FZ (Flame Zone) non-loadbearing construction.

The BAL (Bushfire Attack Level) Assessment was undertaken by Assurance Construction Laboratories and Certification who were engaged to evaluate the FRL performance of the AHMC hemp-lime rendered wall system to AS 3959:2018. The test panel was constructed from Australian Hemp Masonry hempcrete with a 10mm external AHMC Hemp-lime Render applied in two 5mm coats. A fibreglass mesh was installed between the two coats of render.

BAL FZ rating is required where there is an extremely high level risk of ember attack and burning debris ignited by windborne embers, and a likelihood of exposure to an extreme level of radiant heat and direct exposure to flames from the fire front.

The subject material was tested to AS1530.4: 2014. No reaction to fire was observed on the unexposed face, with no thermocouples registering a temperature above ambient.

Assurance Construction Laboratories and Certification concluded that: "the AHMC hemp-lime rendered hemp masonry wall system is deemed to satisfy the BAL FZ requirements established by AS3959:2018 for non-loadbearing walls and is applicable for BAL 12.5 to BAL FZ installations."

 

2. Fire testing of Australian Hemp Masonry Off-form feature wall to AS ISO 9705:2003 (R2016) and AS 5637.1:2016

This Reaction to Fire test  was undertaken by Warrington Fire on 27 October 2022. The test specimen consisted of 64 x 190mm hempcrete  blocks constructed from Australian Hemp Masonry walling materials that were fixed directly to the plasterboard lining of the test room.
"The material subjected to this AS ISO 9705:2003 (R2016) test did not achieve a heat release rate of 1MW after 6000 seconds exposure to 100KW heat source, immediately followed by a further 600 seconds exposed to a 300 kW heat source. Therefore, the system has achieved a classification of Group 1."   Materials classified as Group 1 which is the highest rating in this test do not reach flashover after ten minutes exposure to a heat source delivering 100 kW immediately followed by a further ten minutes exposure to 300 kW.