CPD (Construction Product Directive)The Council Directive 89/106/EEC of 21 December 1988 on the approximation of laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Member States relating to construction products, i.e. any products produced with a view to their incorporation in a permanent manner in construction works. The purpose of the Construction Products Directive(CPD) is to ensure the free movement of all construction products within the European Union by harmonising national laws with respect to the essential requirements applicable to these products in terms
In consequence, all national classes have been replaced by "Euroclasses" since January 1st, 2001. After this date, every national classification for construction products will still be recognized on the national market for a period of 3 to 5 years. The exact length of this transitional period has not yet been fixed. At the end of the period, only European classification will be valid, at both national and European level.
According to this new European regulation, products will be rated from A to F according to the performance level observed. Euroclass A will cover products that do not contribute, or contribute only very slightly, to the development of a fire. Euroclass E will cover products that present an acceptable reaction to fire, i.e. they can resist ignition by a small flame for a short period. Euroclass F is for products that have shown no performance criteria. Also note that 3 parameters will be studied and registered at the same time during experiment: flame spread (from class A to E), dripping (class d0 to d2) and smoke (class s1 to s3).
Prior to the introduction of Euroclasses, a manufacturer would have to undertake more than 30 different fire tests for Reaction to Fire in order to make sales in the various EU countries. Because the test results were expressed differently in each country, meaningful comparisons and acceptability of data was virtually impossible.The Euroclass system simplifies this daunting task, so that tests in one country will be valid across the European Community as a whole. Each Member State's national requirements or guidance will now incorporate Euroclasses. The new classification system is based partially on existing test methods, but partially, and critically for many construction products, on a completely new test, the so-called "single burning item" (SBI) test. Euroclass ClassificationThe classification standard EN 13501-1 ranks the construction materials in 7 classes with regard to their fire behaviour:A1, A2, B, C, D, E and F. The same document also gives the classification of the product with regards to smoke development (s1, s2, s3) and the formation of flaming droplets/particles (d0, d1 and d2).
Fire parameters ranking according to Euroclasses
Test methods for the Euroclass System
Some products do not react significantly to fire, while others react quickly even to very small flame exposures. So the tests chosen for each Euroclass level reflect the expected performance and safety of test technicians. A suite of EU test methods is available for use, and selected as appropriate for each level of classification. Some tests are completely new. Other tests are based on ISO experience and adapted by EU countries as EN's.
Test Methods
Test Type | Document | Fire situation | Heat flux of the test, KW/m2 | Non-combustibility test | Pr EN ISO 1182 | Fully developed fire in a room | 60-70,
in a wide area | Calorimetric bomb | Pr EN ISO 1716 | Fully developed fire in a room | 60-70,
in a wide area | SBI | Pr EN ISO 13823 | Single burning item in a room | 40-50,
on a limited area | Small flame test | Pr EN ISO 11925-2 | Small flame attack | 30-40,
on a very limited area corresponding to the surface exposed to the burner flame | Radiant panel test for floorings | Pr EN ISO 9239-1 | | Radiant heat flux from 0 to 11 | Samples conditioning | Pr EN ISO 13238 | | | | | | |
Basis for ClassificationThe following table indicates the tests and typical test criteria used to determine the 7 new Euroclass categories. A1 is the best classification, E and F are the lowest classification, based on potential fire growth rate. Different limits are used for each level of classification. Full details are in the Classification document BS EN 13501-1 for Reaction to Fire. In addition, classes B, C and D will be accompanied by additional information to indicate the smoke release rates in 1 of 3 levels [s1, s2 and s3]. Euroclasses A2 to E will also have information available to indicate the hazardous release of flaming droplets/particles [d0, d1 and d2]. The Euroclass attained will be indicated on the product within the CE Mark label. Euroclass | Test Method(s) | Test criteria | Additional information | A1 | Non-combustibility | Temperature rise. Mass loss. Sustained flaming | none | AND Calorific content | Total energy in product. Energy per internal & external component | A2 | Non-combustibility | As above | Smoke production & Flaming droplets or particles | OR Calorific content | As above | AND Single Burning Item [SBI] | Fire growth rate. Lateral flame spread & total heat release in 600s | B | Single Burning Item [ SBI] | As SBI above | Smoke production & Flaming droplets or particles | AND Small flame test for 30s | Lateral flame spread in 60s | C | Single Burning Item [SBI] | As SBI above | Smoke production & Flaming droplets or particles | AND Small flame test for 30s | Lateral flame spread in 60s | D | Single Burning Item [SBI] | As SBI above | Smoke production & Flaming droplets or particles | AND Small flame test for 30s | Lateral flame spread in 60s | E | Small flame test for 15s | Lateral flame spread in 20s | Flaming droplets etc | F | No performance determined |
EN 14390
The Euroclass system relies on suites of small/medium-size fire tests as shown in the table above. But in order to reflect the likely Reaction to Fire performance of a construction product in a 'real fire', test data needs to correlate with larger scale test results. To this end the European Commission has decided that a 'real fire' can be represented by a large scale Reference Test - the Room Corner Test ISO 9705, that will be the focus of a new European Standard EN 14390, full-scale room test for surface products.
In this test a 'garage sized' room is lined on the walls and ceiling with the product to be assessed, and exposed to a small gas flame in the corner - for 10 minutes at 100 kW [burning waste paper basket] and for a further 10 minutes at 300 kW [burning armchair]. So the test represents the early stage of a fire that could grow to reach flashover around 6000C, when flames will escape through the door of the room.The test apparatus allows the heat release and smoke release to be measured when collecting all the effluents leaving the room. This allows the Fire Growth Rate index [FIGRA] and Smoke Growth Rate index [SMOGRA] to be determined, as well as the total heat and smoke release. EN 14390 Room Corner test is a larger scale test than SBI and gives consistent results with real fire. It is the reference Reaction to Fire test in Europe. SBI is a smaller scale test theoretically correlated to the Room Corner test
The EC has decided that the FIGRA index will be the basis of European classification for construction products - as well as the time to flashover - when tested in the Reference Room Corner test, the underlying basis of the new system, as below. Euroclass
[ in reference test] | FIGRA index
[Kw/s] | Time to flashover | A1 | Less than 0.15 | No flashover | A2 | Less than 0.15 | No flashover | B | Less than 0.5 | No flashover | C | Less than 1.5 | Flashover after 10 minutes | D | Less than 7.5 | Flashover 2 - 10 minutes | E | More than 7.5 | Flashover before 2 minutes | F | No performance determined |
NB. The Reference test is not to be used for routine testing - only for resolving any Appeal - as it is considered too expensive. So the selected suite of small-scale tests, correlated to the Room Corner Test, will be used for determining European classifications by approved test laboratories. These small-scale tests may yield different FIGRA and SMOGRA information compared to the large Reference Test. However, the European classification system has been constructed so that, wherever possible, the classification ranking from small-scale tests will be similar to that obtained in the Reference Test.
|
