Education of AAMA Document 812-04

The American Architectural Manufacturer’s Association (AAMA) is considered one of the pre-eminent organizations representing the window, door and skylight manufacturers, suppliers and architectural specifiers, and is the source of performance standards, product certification and educational programs for the fenestration industry. AAMA recently issued Document 812-04 to address single component aerosol expanding polyurethane foams, after widespread recognition that these products can greatly enhance the installation quality of prime and replacement fenestration products by sealing the rough opening to provide a highly effective air barrier. Single component polyurethane foams are not only cost effective but are easy and quick to apply.

In the past, single component polyurethane foams have sometimes been associated with frame deflection of fenestration products resulting from either misapplication or the use of foams not suited for this purpose. A new generation of single component polyurethane foams has been developed specifically for the application of fenestration product installation. These foams have been formulated to provide low pressure on fenestration products during the cure phase and exhibit acceptable dimensional stability after cure.

The Aerosol Expanding Single Component Polyurethane Task Group was formed to address industry concerns and develop product standards for fabricators, distributors, installers and other interested parties for the safe use of single component polyurethane foams in the installation of fenestration products. The Task Group has identified pressure build and dimensional stability as the key attributes and has developed test protocols. Pressure build measures the maximum pressure over time that the foam can potentially exert irrespective of expansion rate. It should be noted that the time to reach maximum pressure build under standardized conditions is a function of the individual foam formulation. Pressure build can be directly related to frame deflection using a standard beam calculation as well as an actual beam test. Dimensional stability measures how much the cured foam shrinks or expands under standardized conditions and can be another tool to determine the performance of a given foam over the long term.

The result of this Task Group was Document 812-04. Fomo Products, Inc., Handi-Seal® product meets the AAMA specification for document 812-04 signaling that it does not post expand or shrink more or less than 10%, thus portraying dimensional stability.

This information is provided as a service, and is not necessarily meant to reflect any recommendation, guideline or position of Fomo Products, Inc. Each individual user must determine product suitability for any particular purpose.