Fire and Flammability Tests

In addition to the fire test, the non-flammability test is used to determine whether your products, subsystems or components will work as designed when exposed to fire conditions. Fire and flammability testing is required for products used in a wide variety of industries, including Aviation, Defense, Telecommunications, and Consumer Electronics.

EUROLAB offers fire and flammability testing services, which typically fall into two categories:

• Ignition and flame spread 
• Fire resistance

Ignition and Flame Spread

Such tests are used to directly determine the effect of the flame on working or non-working equipment. The devices tested can range from fuel or hydraulic lines, pumps or actuators for aircraft engines to telecommunications office network equipment. Usually the test is combined with additional factors, such as vibration, pressure, gas, air flow and temperature changes, depending on the official specification and your personal needs.

Fire Resistance

The fire resistance test mimics the effects of a real fire. It measures the ability of substances to continue working in a fire-free manner. Flammability characteristics of materials exposed to controlled external flames are accurately measured. Flammability of the material is determined by a wide variety of criteria depending on the type of product and applicable standards.

Fire Test for Aviation and Space

FAA and other organizations specify a set of specifications for fire and flammability testing. Among them, RTCA DO-160 Part 26, ISO 2685, FAA AC20-135, FAA Powerplant Engineering Report No. 3A and FAR Chapter 25. To meet these specifications, special burner equipment and customized fire rooms are required for the safety of technicians and engineers. The specifications indicate various burn lengths, the distance from the original edge to the farthest evidence of damage in the test sample due to the flame sample and the burning time of the components depending on the component being tested.

EUROLAB uses vertical Bunsen type and horizontal liquid fuel burners. The flame temperature for burners reaches 1100 ° C ± 80 ° C (2000 ° F ± 150 ° F). The heat flux of these burners is at least 4500 Btu per hour (116 ± 10kW / m²).

Fire Test for Telecommunications

Fire Spread Test GR 63-CORE

The fire spread test is part of the GR 63-CORE telecommunications standard. During the fire spread test for NEBS certification, flames are allowed to leave the limits of the rack for more than 30 seconds, along with other criteria. Fire is one of the tests that has undergone major changes in recent years. Verizon (SIT.NEBS.TE.NPI.2002.010, 1 October 2002) applied different test methods than those found in GR-63-CORE or ANSI T1.319. Fire spread is an area of ​​attention, EUROLAB engineers work closely with our customers to minimize the costs of this difficult and destructive test.

Flammability of Plastic Materials
UL94

EUROLAB offers various tests for UL approvals, including flammability testing under UL94.

• 94HB Horizontal Combustion Test
• 94V-0, V-1 or V-2 Vertical Combustion Test
• HBF, HF-1, HF-2 Horizontal Burning Foam Materials
• VTM-0, VTM-1 or VTM-2 Thin Material Vertical Combustion Test

Burning Test on Glow Wire

IEC 60695-2-11; 60695-2-12; 60695-2-12

The glow wire test is used to simulate the effect of heat that may arise in faulty electrical equipment, such as overloaded or glowing components. The test results provide a way to compare the materials' ability to extinguish flames and not produce particles that can spread fire. The glow wire apparatus and common test procedure are specified in IEC 60695-2-10. A finished product or part thereof is subjected to a glow wire tip for 30 seconds at the specified temperature to determine whether the contact contact causes the sample to ignite. If the sample ignites the duration of the flame, the maximum height and dripping material are recorded if it ignites a tissue layer under the sample. The sample is considered to pass if there is no flame or if the flame is extinguished within 30 seconds after the ignition wire is removed and the tissue paper does not ignite unless otherwise specified in the specification. As long as the size does not prevent testing, test samples should be a completed product, if you have a question please contact the lab. If the piece is drawn on a sheet of 8mm circles on the paper, the circle should be so large that it is not completely visible by the piece in one direction. Only one sample is required for testing, but we recommend giving additional samples if needed. Some specifications that require this test also require additional samples.

• IEC 60695-2-11 - Glow wire Test (GWT) is used when the glow wire test is performed on a final product. The results of this test will be PASS or FAIL at a given temperature. Passing the test requires that the sample not ignite or self-extinguish within 30 seconds of removing the heated element. Also, if dripping occurs, the sample may not ignite the tissue.
• IEC 60695-2-12 - Glow Wire Burn Index (GWFI) is a feature associated with the raw material used in the end product. This property is determined by performing the glow wire test on a test plate of a raw material of a certain thickness. GWFI is the highest temperature at which the material does not ignite or extinguish by itself within 30 seconds after the heated element is removed.
• IEC 60695-2-13 - Glow Wire Ignition Temperature (GWIT) is a feature associated with the raw material used in the end product. This property is determined by performing the glow wire test on a test plate of a raw material of a certain thickness. GWIT is the lowest temperature at which the material ignites and burns for more than 5 seconds while in contact with the heated element test plate.

You can contact our expert team to learn more about our Fire and Flammability Test services.