Do not get burned.
All organic materials are combustible, including plastics. The behaviour
in fire is influenced among other things by the product itself
(flammability, flame propagation, heat build-up, smoke formation,
smoke density and toxicity of the combustion gases, surface-to-mass
ratio of the combustible materials, thermal conductivity, heating
value, etc.) and the accompanying circumstances (distribution,
location, material quantity, thermal pre-treatment, ventilation,
exposure time and intensity of the ignition source, etc.).
The complexity of the influencing factors make a comprehensive, generally
applicable description of a product's combustion behaviour
impossible, so particular standards and regulations are applied in
representative application scenarios for testing.
What are flame-retardant hoses?
There are a multitude of hoses on the market today that are designated as
“flame-retardant”. However, in
our opinion, this designation is misleading for some
of these hoses, since in these cases only the plastic of the
hose wall side was tested by the raw material manufacturer at some
time in the past, in some thickness deviating from the actual
thickness of the hose wall, or over all no
official test and certificate could be provided. This can lead
to the following problems for the user:
-
The hose may not be flame-retardant in the
wall thickness and design available.
-
Since the product is not subject to ongoing independent external (quality)
control, the combustion characteristics of the material mixture
might change.
-
Is such a hose even permitted to be sold as
“flame-retardant”? (Keyword:
product liability risk.)
NORRES offers an entire range of flame-retardant
hose products that have all undergone independent laboratory testing
and which have official approvals and/or certificates for
the complete hose. Many of these products are subject to ongoing
external quality control.
Why does the market need flame-retardant hoses?
The demand for such hoses has risen steadily in recent years for the
following reasons:
-
Higher safety awareness
-
Globalization of markets has led to a growing importance of exports in the
manufacturing systems engineering. The systems must be usable
worldwide and satisfy local fire safety regulations. These
regulations increasingly require hose assemblies to be
flame-retardant.
-
Automotive engineering increasingly emphasizes the use of flame-retardant
products for factory equipment of vehicles (rail cars, buses and
other vehicles for passenger transport).
Which regulations?
The following three regulations have particular importance for
internationally and domestic markets:
-
UL 94: Underwriters Laboratories Vertical Burning Test (USA)
-
DIN 4102: “Fire behaviour of building materials and building
components” (Germany)
- DIN 5510: “Preventive fire protection in railway vehicles; levels
of protection, fire preventive measures and certification”
(Germany)
Engineering modifications subject to change. |
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NORCONNECT 231 / NORCONNECT 232
