The purpose of flame resistance testing of polymer materials is to evaluate the combustion characteristics of the material, i.e., whether it catches fire easily, whether it delays the spread of flame when it catches fire, and whether it emits smoke and toxic gases. Alfa Chemistry has the ability to provide flame resistance testing services for polymer materials to determine its performance and behavior in flame.
A wide variety of polymer products require flame resistance testing to ensure their safety. The range of products we can test includes, but is not limited to the following.
√ Plastic
√ Foam
√ Film
√ Paint
√ Rubber
√ Building materials
Depending on the material, industry and standard, flame resistance testing differs in test methods and test requirements. Flame resistance tests that we can provide include, but are not limited to the following.
● Flammability test
Flammability testing determines how easily a polymer material or finished product will ignite or burn when exposed to or used near fire or heat. During a flammability test, the product or material that needs testing should be exposed to an external flame directly. The following are two common methods used to assess the flammability of polymer materials.
＞Oxygen index method
Oxygen index methods, which describes the tendency of a material to sustain a flame, are widely used as a tool to investigate the flammability of polymers. They provide a convenient, reproducible, means of determining a numerical measure of flammability.
＞Horizontal and vertical burning test
The horizontal and vertical burning tests are designed to check the flame retardant rating of the product and the burning characteristics of combustible materials. Its principle is to clamp one end of the sample horizontally or vertically, apply a specified ignition source to the free end of the sample, and measure the linear burning rate (horizontal method) or flame burning and flameless burning time (vertical method) to evaluate the flame retardant properties of the sample.
● Heat release test
The heat release of a polymer material is the total amount of heat released when it burns. The greater the heat release of a polymer material, the more likely it is to cause flash combustion of the material. Heat release rate (HRR) is another more important parameter that provides information about the intensity of the heat energy released by a fire. The testing of these indicators is of practical importance in assessing the flame retardant properties of polymer materials.
● Smoke test
Smoke generation during combustion of polymer materials is an extremely complex physicochemical process. Smoke test, including smoke capacity test, smoke release rate test and smoke composition analysis are helpful to assess the flame resistance of the material.
● Fire resistance test
Fire resistance tests measure the ability of polymer materials to withstand and resist catching fire. An example of a fire resistance test is exposing a fire-retardant door to a flame and then measuring how long it will last before burning or transferring dangerous heat to the other side. The results of this test also reflect the flame retardant properties of the material.
Our test standards mainly include ASTM D2843, ASTM E119, SMP 800C, ASTM D635, ASTM D3014 and ISO 4589-2.
We will test in accordance with the above standards, but we can also conduct the test according to the specific requirements of our customers.
The main testing equipment for flame resistance testing of polymer materials is shown below.
Oxygen Index Tester
Horizontal and Vertical Flammability Tester
Cone Calorimeter
Smoke Density Chamber
