Sustainability in Ceilings

Armstrong Suspended Ceilings Presented By: John Spicer Technical Sales Manager

Agenda

Recycling Manufacturing Process

10/12/2012 2 Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Systems

Product Performance - Acoustics

Innovation - New Products Fire Regulations

Q&A

3 10/12/2012 Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Systems

RECYCLING

Recycled materials

10/12/2012 Armstrong Ceiling & Wall Systems 4

Recycled materials used in the manufacture of ceiling tiles and grid systems are:

Waste wools

Newspaper

Glass

Steel

Aluminium

Chipboard

Cardboard

Plastic

Ceiling tiles

Packaging

Definition of recycled content (EN ISO 14021:2001) The proportion, by mass, of recycled material in a product or packaging. Only pre-consumer and post-consumer materials shall be considered as recycled content, consistent with the following usage of the terms.

Recycled content and raw materials


The total recycled content will vary depending on the material…

Material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end users of the product which can no longer be used for it’s intended purpose. This includes return of materials from the distribution chain.

2)Post Consumer material

Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excluded is such as rework, regrind or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it.

1) Pre-consumer material Resin bonded (‘soft’) mineral fibre tiles ≈ 15 - 25% (rock wool) ≈ 40 - 70% (glass wool)

Wet felt (‘hard’) mineral fibre tiles ≈ 19 - 70%

Metal tiles ≈ 25%

Suspension systems ≈ 30% (steel) ≈ 50 - 85% (aluminium)

Wood tiles ≈ 20 - 68%

Bio-soluble wool Wet felt (‘hard’) mineral fibre tiles Resin bonded (‘soft’) mineral fibre tiles

Gauge Reduction Suspension systems

Perlite Wet felt (‘hard’) mineral fibre tiles

Chipboard Wood tiles

Acoustic Fleece Metal tiles

Recycled content and raw materials


Changes to raw materials have had an effect on environmental performance…

Armstrong Recycling Programmes – End-of-Life and Off-Cut-Recycling


Armstrong offers a free collection for refurbishment / strip out projects of 2000m2+, anywhere in the UK. Ceiling tiles are 100% recycled into the mix and are processed into new ceiling tiles

End of Life (EOL) Recycling Programme End of Life Projects:

Grays Inn Road

Farnborough Air show

Lancaster Court

Off-cut ceiling tiles from new ceiling installations are stored on site in specially supplied bags and collected by Armstrong to be recycled into new ceiling tiles

Off Cut Recycling Programme (OCR) Off Cut Projects:

University Hospital

Birmingham

Peterborough Hospital

Tameside Hospital

Salford Hospital


MANUFACTURING PROCESS

Manufacturing Process


Wet-Felt Mineral Fibre Tiles

The wet felt pulp is deposited on a ‘conveyor belt’ where water is removed by a variety of techniques:- free drainage (gravity), pressing, vacuum & steam before being rolled to a level sheet at the required thickness.

This pulp then goes into the gas fired drying ovens (approx 50-65% moisture content). The temperature of and time spent in the oven will depend on the formulation (starch especially affects the drying rate) and the thickness of the board.

At the end of the drying ovens the board has any fissures or perforations rolled or punched into the board, gets sawn into the correct board size and with the appropriate edge detail as necessary.

Tiles typically have a primer coat, one or two intermediate coats and a finishing coat. Calcite gets applied to tiles on the paint line as necessary. The number and application rate will vary depending on the finish (fissured, perforated or calcite).

Product is packed face-to-face / back-to-back with cardboard dunnage, then shrink-wrapped and put into DC stock.



Soft Fibre Mineral Fibre Tiles

Slag and basalt (rock wool) or sand, limestone, soda ash and recycled glass (glass wool) heated in furnace (approximately 1300-1500ºC), droplets fall onto spinners creating fibres.

A binding agent is then added to the fibres and then cured in an oven at approximately 200ºC.

The thickness and density is controlled by the speed of conveyor belts and the amount of compression.

The wool slabs are cut into boards and a rebated edge detail cut as necessary.

Decorative and reverse scrims are glued to the board.

Edges are painted as required.

Product is packed face-to-face / back-to-back with cardboard dunnage, then shrink-wrapped and put into DC stock.



Metal Tiles

The coil is then cut to the appropriate length and notched (depending on whether tile being made can be ‘notched on tool’) to create ‘blanks’. If perforated, the blanks need rolling to flatten out the curve induced during the perforating process.

The blanks are then formed into tiles by either a power press, an automated folding machine, roll forming or hand formed using a brake press. The formed tiles are then washed and degreased before being painted.

The coil of the appropriate width for the type and size of tile to be manufactured is selected, and if required, the coil is fed into the perforating booth for perforating.



Metal Tiles

The tiles are hung on the paint line ‘conveyor belt’ and painted by electrostatically applying the polyester paint powder to the tiles and curing in an ‘oven’. The temperature in the ‘oven’ is just sufficient to cause the paint to melt/soften and fuse together forming a hard durable finish.

Once painted, the tiles may have different types of acoustic infill applied…

• A black non-woven fleece impregnated with a hot-melt glue can be heat sealed onto the back face of the tile.

• For B15 acoustic infill, 15mm mineral fibre board is cut to size and glued to the back of the acoustic fleece.

• Aluminium foil wrapped, black tissue faced pads are either supplied separately or loose laid into the back of the tile. It is possible for the pads to be ‘cassetted’ but this is not a standard Armstrong solution.

Product is packed face-to-face / back-to-back with cardboard sheets between tiles and packed in a full cardboard carton, sealed and put into DC stock.


INNOVATION - NEW PRODUCTS

Innovation - CoolZone


How do PCM cassettes actually function

Partnership with BASF using Micronal encapsulated in the core of the cassette to be used in a suspended ceiling

Innovation - CoolZone


26oC 22oC

A cooler surface temp. Also improves the thermal comfort of the space

26oC +/- 2.0oC Standard ceiling

22oC +/- 1.0oC PCM ceiling

Hour of the day

Surface 1 Ch11 [C]

Innovation – CoolZone


In the hot afternoon, the PCM cassettes suck up the heat and keep the room pleasantly cool.

OUT IN IN


OUT IN IN

Overnight, they release the energy throughout the room while using the cool night ventilation to change back to their solid state. the PCM cassettes are now fully reset and ready for the next day.


PRODUCT PERFORMANCE - ACOUSTICS

Provides confidentiality

Improves attentiveness & performance

Reduces vocal stress

Helps meet BB93 regulation requirements

Aids speedier recovery

Aids confidentiality

Improved productivity

Reduces fatigue and stress

Benefits to users

Acoustic comfort


Offices Healthcare Education

Reduces fatigue and stress

Acoustic comfort


The intelligibility, concentration and confidentiality balance

MEETING ROOMS CONFERENCE ROOMS CLASSROOMS LECTURE THEATRES

Concentration

Confidentiality

Intelligibility

Combination of sound absorption and sound attenuation Medium density ceiling tiles

Acoustic comfort



INDIVIDUAL CLOSED OFFICE

CONSULTING ROOM

INDIVIDUAL BEDROOM

Concentration

Confidentiality

Higher levels of sound attenuation Higher density ceiling tiles

Acoustic comfort



(LARGE) OPEN PLAN AREA – ASSEMBLY / DINING / SPORTS HALL – 4+ BED WARD

Concentration

Confidentiality

Higher levels of sound absorption Lower density ceiling tiles

A WORD OF CAUTION: The same ceiling may have one type of room on one side of a partition, and another type on the other side. However, they may both have conflicting acoustic requirements.

Acoustic comfort



ACTIVE ACOUSTICS : FOR RETAIL BANKING, HEALTHCARE, OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS AND SCHOOLS

Concentration

Confidentiality

Intelligibility

Control background noise : overcome “occupational factor” with sound masking Active acoustics take into account all sound and noise sources on-site to guarantee levels of intelligibility, privacy and concentration.


FIRE REGULATIONS

Fire safety


“Designers are required to avoid foreseeable risks as far as is reasonably practicable, taking due account of other relevant design considerations. The greater the risk the greater the weight that must be given to eliminating or reducing it”

Euroclasses EN13501-1:

2007

Provide passive fire protection

Fire Resistance

Tests (BS/EN)

Escape routes or corridors

Larger rooms a greater distance to exit the room

Small rooms (≤ 30m2)

Fire reaction


Legislation & regulations

Table 10 in Approved Document B (volume 2) specifies the minimum performance requirement for these categories...

For non-residential buildings these are…

Incre

asing

perfo

rman

ce EuroClass

rating (old) National classification

B-s3,d2 Class 0

C-s3,d2 Class 1

D-s3,d2 Class 3

EUROCLASSES

Fire safety


UK

Class 0

Class 1

Class 3

B – s3, d2

C – s3, d2

D – s3, d2

Fire Reaction

Stability (R)

Integrity (E)

Insulation (I)

Fire Resistance

Fire reaction

The EuroClass is a fire reaction rating to EN 13501-1

Classification

Why is the ‘EuroClass’ rating?

Class 0 is defined in the Building Regulations whilst Class 1 and Class 3 are performances determined by British Standard test BS 476:part 7

What is Class 0 / Class 1 / Class 3?

28

European harmonisation of testing for fire reaction of suspended ceilings requires Euroclass ratings to meet the Construction Products Directive

Why is Class 0 / Class 1 / Class 3 an old requirement?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

The Euroclass rating for fire reaction of products is achieved by using EN 13501. This allows results from the harmonised European test methods to be used to classify the performance. The old national requirements for fire reaction performance… Class 0 is a Building Regulations definition only. A product is deemed to be Class0 if… 1) It is non-combustible (as defined in BS476 pt4) OR 2) It is of limited combustibility (as defined in BS476 pt11) OR 3) It has Class 1 surface spread of flame (as defined in BS476 pt7) AND It has Indices of propagation i ≤ 6 and I ≤ 12 (as defined in BS476 pt6) Whilst they are still valid to show fire reaction performance for Building Regulation approval, the British Standard test methods and national classifications cannot be used for CE Marking and do not show compliance with the Construction Products Directive as required by law. If a product achieves Class 0 to the national classification, it cannot automatically be considered EuroClass A2-s3,d2 without testing to the European test methods. Class 1 and Class 3 are directly taken from BS476pt7 test results.

Q & A

Documents

Sustainability in Ceilings