Fire retardant gelcoat and resin: how do they work?

In high-fire-risk environments, passive fire protection becomes essential. Fire retardant gelcoat and resin represent advanced technical solutions to improve the safety of surfaces and components in sectors such as transportation, construction and the marine industry.

But how exactly do these materials work? What features ensure their effectiveness in fire resistance? Let’s find out.

What is a fire retardant gelcoat and how does it work?

Fire retardant gelcoat is a special protective finish designed to stop combustion as soon as the flame source is removed.

Applied to composite surfaces, this material stands out for:

• Certified and tested flame-retardant properties
• Excellent adhesion to composite surfaces
• Uniform and aesthetically pleasing finish

When exposed to a flame, the gelcoat burns but extinguishes rapidly once the heat source is removed, with a significantly reduced burn rate compared to traditional gelcoats.

How fire retardant resin works

Poly3’s fire retardant resin is formulated with styrene and methyl methacrylate, designed for manual impregnation with excellent fire resistance. Treated materials achieve the M1 classification, certifying non-flammability, and F1, indicating low smoke toxicity and opacity in case of fire.

This resin offers an ideal balance of ease of processing, fire safety, and long-lasting performance. It is particularly suitable for applications in transportation, construction and marine sectors, where limiting fire spread is essential without compromising material quality.

Key application sectors for fire retardant gelcoat

Fire retardant gelcoat is widely used in contexts where fire safety is a critical requirement:

• Transportation: interior coatings for trains, buses, coaches, and specialized industrial vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks
• Construction and infrastructure: composite panels with protective functions
• Marine industry: reducing fire propagation within vessel interiors
• Electrical and railway industry: interior coatings in technical compartments and driver cabins

Fire-safety certifications and testing

Fire retardant materials such as gelcoat and resin undergo rigorous tests to verify flammability and fire reaction. These tests measure:

• Ease of ignition and combustion duration
• Presence of dripping of burning particles
• Heat, smoke and toxic gas emission indices

Furthermore these tests define essential criteria for fire safety, ensuring that:

• Fire and smoke are limited
• Structural load-bearing capacity is maintained for a defined time
• Flame spread is controlled
• Escape routes remain safe for evacuation and rescue

Poly3 fire retardant gelcoat and resin

Poly3 offers a line of fire retardant gelcoats and resins specifically formulated to meet the strictest fire-safety standards, ideal for applications in transportation, infrastructure and marine sectors.

Poly3 fire retardant gelcoat

• Certified M1/F1 in the white version
• Flame-retardant properties guaranteed only with the addition of MEKP (methyl ethyl ketone peroxide)
• Available in thixotropic finishes, ideal for composite panel applications thanks to high adhesion and visual quality

Poly3 fire retardant resin

• Formulated for manual impregnation
• Classified M1 and F1 according to fire-safety regulations
• Suitable for components in interior compartments and coatings in railway, marine and automotive applications
• Ensures an excellent balance between workability and fire-resistance performance

Poly3 positions itself as a reliable partner in passive fire protection, offering certified and tested fire retardant gelcoats and resins designed to meet the most stringent safety requirements in the most demanding industrial sectors.
Contact us to discover all the details of our products.