Fire test methods material reaction

A description is given of the initiatives carried out within the European Community for the harmonization of fire testing. The technical and economic reasons are explained for such initiatives, which are taken in order to remove barriers to trade from the European internal market. Of the various fire aspects, only fire reaction testing is taken into consideration here, because it appears as a major technical obstacle to the free circulation of construction materials. All possible approaches are considered for the attainment of such a harmonization and one, the so called interim solution, is fully described. The proposed interim solution, is based on the adoption of three fundamental test methods, i.e. the British "Surface Spread of Flame", the French "Epiradiateur" and the German "Brandschacht", and on the use of a rather complicated "transposition document", which should allow to derive most of the national classifications from the three test package. 

In some cases, it is not possible to evaluate a material or product (combination of materials) in a bench-scale test in a manner that is representative of its end-use. For example, it is difficult to use a bench-scale test method to evaluate the effect of joints on the fire performance of a thick sandwich panel that consists of a plastic foam core and metal skins. In this case, a room test is used to assess the reaction to fire of the materials. It is also very difficult to assess the fire performance of complex objects such as upholstered furniture based on the reaction-to-hre characteristics of the object s components. Large-scale reaction-to-hre tests have been developed to evaluate these complex objects. 

ASTM E1354-04 (standard test method for heat and visible smoke release rates for materials and products using an oxygen consumption calorimeter) and ISO 5660-1 2002 (reaction-to-fire tests-heat release, smoke production, and mass loss rate - part 1 heat release rate, cone calorimeter method) for heat release and oxygen consumption. 

The process of harmonisation for the testing of the reaction of building materials to fire has been going for over a decade. The culmination of all the effort over the years has emerged as a pan-European testing and classification system that divides such materials into classes Al, A2, B, C, D, E and F. The test methods to be followed are ... 

Because flammability depends as much on the fire conditions as on the material, there are many standard tests to measure flammability. In the United States alone over 100 tests are used to evaluate the reaction of plastics to fire. ASTM D3814 lists standard combustion test methods. 

The Cone Calorimeter. The cone calorimeter is standardized in North America as ASTM E1354, Test Method for Heat and Visible Smoke Release Rates for Materials and Products Using an Oxygen Consumption Calorimeter, and internationally as ISO 5660-1, Fire Tests—Reaction to Fire—Part 1 Rate of Heat Release from Building Products (Cone Calorimeter Method). A photograph of a commercial version of the cone calorimeter is shown in Figure 28. 

Several pultmsion companies use Barcol hardness testers to assess the degree of cure of the produced parts. This enables the tracing of products with insufficient degree of cure of the resin matrix, which leads to lower mechanical performance. The quality control of pultruded produced parts can also include other mechanical characterisation tests which can sometimes be carried out in the laboratory facilities of pultrusion companies. EN 13706-3 (CEN, 2002) defines two grades of FRP pultruded profiles, specifying minimum values for material properties and the relevant test methods. The requirements for certain applications (e.g. petroleum and natural gas industries) can be stricter and often include aspects related to fire reaction and fire resistance behaviour, e.g. NBR 15708-1 (ABNT, 2011). 

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