Fibre Reinforced Facade Encyclopedia: Testing and standards
AS ISO 9705 is the full-scale room fire test used to measure how an internal wall and ceiling lining behaves in a real compartment fire. A small room is lined with the product, a gas burner is run in one corner at 100 kW for ten minutes and then 300 kW for ten more, and the time taken to reach flashover, if it is reached at all, determines the material’s group number under AS 5637.1. It is the reference method behind every group number quoted in Australia.
This is not a bench test with a correlation to reality. It is a real room, a real corner fire and a real flashover, measured by oxygen consumption calorimetry in the exhaust hood. Everything else in the lining regime is calibrated against it.
At a glance
| Property | Typical value | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Room dimensions | 3.6 m long by 2.4 m wide by 2.4 m high | Single doorway 0.8 m wide by 2.0 m high |
| Lining | Walls and ceiling, or walls only | The configuration tested is stated in the report and limits the use |
| Ignition source | Propane sand burner in a rear corner | 0.17 m square burner at floor level |
| Exposure | 100 kW for 10 minutes, then 300 kW for 10 minutes | Total 20 minutes |
| Measured | Heat release rate by oxygen consumption, smoke production, temperatures | Exhaust hood calorimetry |
| Flashover definition | Heat release rate reaching 1 MW, flames out the doorway, or 20 kW/m² at floor level | Whichever occurs first |
| Group 1 | No flashover in 20 minutes | Best classification |
| Group 2 | Flashover after 10 minutes and within 20 minutes | During the 300 kW phase |
| Group 3 | Flashover after 2 minutes and within 10 minutes | During the 100 kW phase |
| Group 4 | Flashover within 2 minutes | Not permitted as a lining in regulated locations |
How the test runs
The test room is built to fixed internal dimensions with a single doorway in one end wall, and the product is installed on the walls and ceiling exactly as it would be in service, including its substrate, adhesive or fixings and its joints. A propane sand burner is placed against the rear corner furthest from the door and run at 100 kW for ten minutes, then stepped up to 300 kW for a further ten minutes. All gases leaving the doorway are captured by a hood, and the heat release rate of the fire is calculated continuously from the depletion of oxygen in the exhaust stream. Smoke production is measured optically in the same duct.
Observers record flame spread over the lining, the time of any flashover and the condition of the specimen throughout. The burner contribution is known and subtracted, so what the calorimetry reports is the energy the lining itself is adding to the fire. That is the physical quantity that matters: a lining that adds little energy will not drive the room to flashover, and a lining that adds a lot will.
From flashover time to group number
AS 5637.1 converts the room test outcome into a group number on a simple rule. A material that never reaches flashover across the full twenty minutes is Group 1. One that survives the 100 kW phase but reaches flashover during the 300 kW phase is Group 2. One that reaches flashover during the 100 kW phase but after the first two minutes is Group 3. One that reaches flashover within two minutes is Group 4.
AS 5637.1 also permits a group number to be predicted from cone calorimeter data obtained under AS/NZS 3837, which is far cheaper and faster and is how most products are first classified. The room test remains the reference method: where the two disagree, the full-scale result governs, and a room test is the way to resolve a borderline or disputed cone calorimeter prediction.
Where group numbers are applied
The NCC regulates internal wall and ceiling linings in Class 2 to 9 buildings on group number under Specification 7, with the group required depending on the building class, whether the building is sprinkler protected and where in the building the lining sits. Fire isolated exits are the most demanding location, public corridors next, and other rooms the least. Certain classes also carry a limit on the smoke growth rate index, written SMOGRA-RC, which comes from the same room test.
Group numbers are a lining measure, not a facade measure. The external wall of a Type A or Type B building is governed by the non-combustibility provision, not by group number, which is why a Group 1 classification on a cladding product does not make it acceptable as external cladding on those buildings. The wall lining and NCC external wall entries set out the two regimes separately.
International relations
ISO 9705 is an international standard, and the room corner rig is used well beyond Australia. New Zealand applies the same group number system. Europe and the United Kingdom classify linings under EN 13501-1 using the EN 13823 single burning item test, which is an intermediate scale test designed to correlate with ISO 9705 rather than replace it, and the United States uses the ASTM E84 tunnel and, for some materials, the NFPA 286 room corner test. None of the results convert.
ShapeShell-RT holds an AS 5637 Group 1 classification from AWTA Product Testing, the best available classification for a lining. It is a fibre reinforced polymer and is not non-combustible; its external wall pathway is the full-scale facade test it passed at BRE Global to BS 8414 and AS 5113, not its group number.
Standards and references
- AS ISO 9705 Fire tests: full-scale room test for surface products
- AS 5637.1 Determination of fire hazard properties: wall and ceiling linings
- AS/NZS 3837 Method of test for heat and smoke release rates using an oxygen consumption calorimeter
- NCC 2022 Volume One Specification 7 Fire hazard properties (check the edition adopted in your jurisdiction)
- EN 13823 single burning item test and EN 13501-1; NFPA 286 room corner test
Related terms
Questions specifiers ask
What does the ISO 9705 room corner test measure?
The heat release rate and smoke production of a full room lined with the product, under a corner gas burner run at 100 kW then 300 kW, and whether and when the room reaches flashover.
How is a group number determined?
By the time to flashover in the room test: no flashover in 20 minutes is Group 1, flashover in the second 10 minutes is Group 2, flashover between 2 and 10 minutes is Group 3, and flashover within 2 minutes is Group 4.
Can a group number be obtained without the room test?
Yes. AS 5637.1 allows prediction from AS/NZS 3837 cone calorimeter data. The room test is the reference method and governs where the two disagree.
Does a Group 1 lining meet the NCC external wall requirements?
No. External walls of Type A and Type B construction must be non-combustible under AS 1530.1. Group number applies to internal wall and ceiling linings.
What is flashover in this test?
The point at which the heat release rate reaches 1 MW, flames emerge from the doorway, or the heat flux at floor level reaches 20 kW/m², whichever happens first.
ShapeShell-RT holds an AS 5637 Group 1 classification from AWTA Product Testing for lining applications. See ShapeShell-RT specifications
Reviewed by Richard Halvorsen, General Manager, ShapeShift Technologies. Last updated September 2026.