Metal Plast Industries, a fully-owned subsidiary of the diversified multinational business conglomerate Mulk Holdings International, has developed the fire-rated A1 grade Aluminium Composite Panel (ACP) core and a proprietary bonding system exclusively for Alubond A1, to reduce the spread of fire in high-rise buildings
Adnan Ul Mulk, founder of Metal Plast Industries and vice-chairman of Mulk Holdings International, said, “We are proud to be the first manufacturer of A1 core in the Middle East. The game-changing product has been developed by our own research and development team and will soon be exported to other markets in the world and it shall be our endeavour to make the world safer with Alubond A1.”
Metal Plast Industries’ research and development team used a combination of hybridisation and nanotechnology by adding nanomaterials and reinforcement fillers to a matrix of minerals to achieve the desired strength and non-combustible performance of the A1 core.
Some of the currently popular construction materials with an A1 grade used in exterior façades are natural stone and solid metal. A composite panel of four mm with two layers of aluminium skin bonded to an inner core of minerals to achieve A1 standards has always been a goal for the industry.
Alubond A1 has achieved better standards including lowest heat release over high lamination, such as heat value less than one MJ/kg and peel strength of more than seven N/sq m.
The Fire-Retardant A1 ACPs are non-combustible and do not produce any smoke in the event of fire. It therefore offers an ideal sustainable alternative to façade materials made of metal or other cladding materials used for ventilated rain screen cladding façades systems.
Sania Mulk, architect at Virginia Tech University, commented, “For an architect, material choice is always validated through fire-rated safety standards first. The new A1 core will appeal to architects not only through its design capabilities but also from its safety standards.”
Alubond A1 is particularly suitable for areas where very high fire protection or the use of non-combustible façade materials is required. For example on high-rise buildings or high-risk buildings, fire exit staircases, etc. Alubond A1‘s product and processing properties as well as its wide range of choice of finishes enable a multitude of architectural design possibilities both in refurbishment and new buildings.
