Fire tests at reduced scale as powerful tool to fasten the development of flame-retarded material: Application to cables

The cables have to meet regulations to be used in buildings. In Europe, they are evaluated according to large- and small-scale tests (e.g. EN 50399 and IEC 60332-). They can be time- and material-consuming. In this study, a novel bench-scale fire testing method was developed only considering the external sheathing/jacket. Flat specimen of materials used as cables' sheathing was impacted by a methane burner, and the heat release rate and the flame spread were measured. Good correlations on five benchmark materials were found between the classifications at the large scale (EN 50399) compared to those measured at the reduced scale. Using the bench-scale test, optimized formulations were developed.