The increase in fire incidents has raised the interest of people in using fire-rated plywood in their interior applications. The data indicates that in recent days, a large number of fire incidents have increased, either due to short circuits or any other mishandling of fire-catching materials. The government is also strict now in this regard and has issued guidelines for the use of fire-rated materials in government buildings, high-rise buildings, and homes. It has been made mandatory to use fire-rated materials in buildings.
It is noted that the government's directive to use fire-rated material is helping the sale to boost the demand of firerated plywood, doors, and other value-added plywood and panel products. Its increasing demand is motivating the producers to manufacture such standard products. The Ply Reporter findings indicate that over a dozen Indian plywood and panel product manufacturing companies have the infrastructure and technology to produce such fire-rated panel products and many of them are producing it. Besides the industry leaders like Century Ply, Greenply, along with over 15 brands offer fire-rated plywood and doors. In the premium houses, the architects are using fire-rated plywood materials.
Fire-retardant plywood and doors are a type of panel product that is treated with special fire-retardant chemicals at the time of manufacture so that it becomes better at resisting fires. It is also known as FR-grade plywood or doors. It is commonly used in public places where the risk of fire has to be reduced, such as for the woodwork in the kitchens of large restaurants, the interior woodwork done in public theatres and halls, and the wood used in the railway compartments of trains. It can also be used in homes and offices, car interiors, and any other place where the risk and spread of fire have to be reduced.
The Indian quality standards for the manufacture of FRgrade fire-resistant plywood are specified in document IS:5509. The rate of burning plywood should be more than 20 minutes, and the time taken for flames to penetrate the plywood has to be more than 30 minutes. Chemicals such as diammonium hydrogen phosphate, etc., are used to make fire-retardant plywood. The addition of fireproofing chemicals gives the plywood better fireproofing qualities such as a lesser tendency to spark and ignite, slow burning, a decreased tendency for the fire to spread over the surface of the plywood, low flammability, lesser smoke generation, and a higher flame penetration time.