Aluminium Composite Panel with near 100% Polymer Core (ACP-PE) acting as Back Pan - Reports and Videos – Cladding Safety Victoria Fire Testing Program

This record contains six reaction-to-fire test reports for ACP-PE Acting as Back Pan – Series 1 and Series 2, commissioned through Cladding Safety Victoria (CSV), together with associated shortened videos. The publication comprises two scenarios of three tests each, undertaken to investigate the influence of ACP-PE when used as a back pan from the perspective of ignition and flame spread.

ACP-PE refers to aluminium composite panel with a polyethylene core. In these tests, ACP-PE was constructed within an enclosed curtain wall system and acted as the stiffener/back pan, rather than as the external visible cladding face. Externally, the curtain wall modules were cassette-clad with layers comprising 3 mm solid aluminium cladding, a 100 mm cavity, ACP-PE back pan and 50 mm rockwool insulation. The rockwool insulation was held in place using horizontal ACP-PE straps spanning mullion to mullion.

The tests were designed according to the general requirements of ISO 13785-1:2002, incorporating a burner specified in that standard. The tests were undertaken to replicate actual building configurations at two different locations identified as potential worst cases. Each test ran for 40 minutes, using a 100 kW burner output for the first 15 minutes and 300 kW for the following 25 minutes. Thermocouples were installed at the front of the wall system and within the cavity to monitor temperatures throughout the test.

Series 1 assessed a scenario where the burner was positioned underneath the curtain wall modules, with parts of the flame directly impinging the underside and side of the curtain wall system, to mimic the balcony setting at that location. 

Series 2 assessed a scenario where the burner was positioned in front of the balcony’s returning wall, with the edge of the burner immediately adjacent to the curtain wall system. A glass balustrade was installed perpendicular to the returning wall at the joint between the non-combustible wall section and the curtain wall system, with an approximately 20 mm gap from the edge of the balustrade mullion to the front face of the wall. 

The reports and videos provide a technical record of the tested ACP-PE back pan curtain wall systems under the specific reaction-to-fire exposure conditions used in Series 1 and Series 2. They include the test setup, specimen construction, installation details, instrumentation locations, temperature measurements, heat flux measurements, visual observations, photographic evidence, post-test condition and chemical analysis results. The videos should be viewed together with the written reports as complementary evidence of the observed fire behaviour.

The reports should not be read as standalone certification, compliance confirmation, or a universal assessment of ACP-PE products, curtain wall systems or back pan configurations. Rather, they provide practical, test-based evidence of how the tested ACP-PE back pan systems performed under two defined fire exposure scenarios. The information can assist broader risk evaluation and decision-making for materially similar products or wall-system configurations, provided that differences in façade geometry, curtain wall construction, cavity design, back pan details, insulation, fixings, balcony configuration, balustrade details, fire exposure conditions and other construction details are carefully considered.