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3M
Films : Scotchshield™ :
Product Performance
Blast Protection Standards
and Independent Testing
Several years ago, the General
Services Administration (GSA)
mandated a universal standard
for measuring the level of blast
protection. The GSA developed
criteria for evaluation of acceptable
levels of protection for the
glass fragment hazard. This
criteria is part of the comprehensive
security criteria (GSA Security
Criteria, Final Working Version,
January 1997) developed by the
GSA which includes physical
security, electronic security,
and many other criteria for
blast considerations. The GSA
has indicated a preference,
but not a requirement, for open-air
high explosive testing rather
than shock tube testing. This
is because current shock tube
testing methods cannot adequately
emulate air blast waveforms
from real explosions and tend
to be over-energetic at the
same peak blast pressure level
versus real explosions.*
*Some text
taken from independent testing
firm, Applied Research Associates,
Inc., 1/98
GSA Protection Standards
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Condition
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Description
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Exterior to Structure
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Interior to Structure
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Hazard Level
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Protection Level
|
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1
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Glass not cracked, fully survived
and/or fully retained by frame, and no glass fragments
either inside or outside structure.
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None
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None
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N/A
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Very High
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2
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Glass may be cracked but is retained
by the frame.
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Yes
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Yes - land on floor no more than 10
ft from window.
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Very Low
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Very High
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3
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Glass failed and not fully retained
in the frame.
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Yes
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Yes - land on floor more than 10 ft
from window and impact a vertical surface not more than
10 ft behind window below a height of 2 ft.
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N/A
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High
|
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4
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Glass failed and not fully retained
in the frame.
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Yes
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Yes - land on floor more than 10 ft
from window and impact a vertical surface not more than
10 ft behind window above a height of 2 ft.
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N/A
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Medium
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5
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Glass fails catastrophically.
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Yes
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Yes - land on floor more than 10 ft
from window and impact a vertical surface not more than
10 ft behind window above a height of 2 ft.
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High
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Low
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ARA’s Major Findings
This test series showed that
the 3M
Scotchshield™ Ultra series
of security window films provides
significant benefit in mitigating
window glass fragment environments
in blast. Per the GSA criteria,
the 4 mil ULTRA400 (.004 inches)
and the 6 mil ULTRA600 (.006
inches) 3M
films performed to the required
levels for many of the configurations
tested. Both products performed
well up to blast pressures as
high as 9 psi. Many configurations
tested performed to the required
level of protection for GSA
Level C buildings at the maximum
design load. Several other configurations
performed to the required level
of protection for Level D buildings
up to 9 psi and for an impulse
of about 50 psi-msec.
In its strongest configuration,
3M’s
ULTRA600 achieved a Very High
protection level and a Condition
2 on the GSA rating scale when
tested with a standoff distance
of 121 feet and a peak pressure
of 9 psi.
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