First fire-resistance testing building constructed by a Korean company
KCC (CEO Chung Mong-jin) has constructed a “fire-resistance testing building” at its Central Research Institute in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, to test and evaluate the fire-resistance and insulation performance of various building materials and fire-resistant structures. KCC is the first Korean company to establish a research facility dedicated exclusively to testing fire-resistance and insulation performance.
The newly built fire-resistance testing building has a total floor area of 1,547㎡ (about 468 pyeong) and consists of two above-ground floors. It primarily carries out performance evaluations of building components that require fire-resistance performance in the event of a fire. It is operated in two zones—a fire-resistance testing zone and an insulation testing zone—and is equipped with a system capable of evaluating a wide range of components such as walls, roof panels, beams, and fire doors.
Outfitted with state-of-the-art equipment, KCC Central Research Institute’s fire-resistance testing building features a vertical furnace for walls and a horizontal furnace for roofs, as well as a small furnace for evaluating the performance of fire-resistant coatings. In addition, to evaluate insulation performance, it is equipped with thermal transmittance (U-value) testing equipment and instruments for measuring the wind-pressure resistance and condensation of windows and doors, enabling it to evaluate the insulation, fire-resistance, and durability of entire buildings, including the performance of insulation materials and the wind-pressure resistance and condensation of window and door materials.
In particular, the newly built fire-resistance testing building has been accredited as an internationally recognized testing laboratory in the fire and fire-resistance fields by the Korea Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (KOLAS), an organization under the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards, further enhancing the reliability of its research activities such as product design, analysis and evaluation, and quality control. In accordance with the “Framework Act on National Standards” and the “international standard (ISO/IEC 17025),” a KOLAS-accredited testing laboratory is recognized for the conformity of its quality system, facilities and equipment, and processes, and issues internationally accepted KOLAS-accredited test reports. KOLAS-accredited test reports are used by Korean companies for exports, government procurement, and obtaining overseas certifications.
Interest in and regulations on fire-resistant structures have been taking shape since 2010, and after August 2020 the fire-resistant construction of roofs was enacted into law, which is expected to be applied at building construction sites from the second half of 2021. Accordingly, KCC Central Research Institute is currently actively conducting fire-resistance tests on roof structures using inorganic insulating and fire-resistant materials, and plans to continue performing fire-resistance tests across a wide range of components, including walls, beams, and fire doors, in addition to roof structures.