Fire Retardant Clear Material- Does it exist?
Posted by Nana Hinsley on Thu, Dec 15, 2011 @ 06:01 PM
Question: I am looking for a fire retardant clear material, with no print or design, to be used in a stage set scenery. Ideally, It should preferably resemble freezer vinyl strip curtains but only visually. Do you have any product that might fit the bill?
Answer: The strip doors are all made from vinyl that is very thick. There are versions that are thinner, a number of which are FR. Vinyl is often not the favorite material in the eyes of Fire Marshals or other officials. Vinyl, even the FR versions produce a lot of smoke, plus toxic fumes when combustion takes place. When used vertically, this problem is greater. I would check to find out if vinyl can be used. One huge advantage vinyl has for your application is that the FR versions are clear. Most FR vinyl passes the CA Fire Marshal Title 19. Very little, but some of it passes the NFPA 701 (which is much harder to pass).
Polyethylene turns either a milky whitish yellowish color when it is made FR. The additives used to interrupt the combustion process keep the film from being clear. In thinner versions, the film is translucent, but definitely not clear. By the time the film is 6-8 mil, it is getting pretty opaque, but still has light transmission. We have some 4 mil and 6 mil sheeting that is Natural FR, passes the CA Fire Marshal Title 19. This is basically the construction version of Visqueen made fire retardant.
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