FPW holds a number of comprehesive test facilities for testing materials to reaction to fire and to fire protection standards. These include:

  • A small scale single burning item (SBI) simulator used for the EN 13823 room corner test.
  • A small scale furnace, typically used to test small structural steel sections coated with intumescent coatings. From our work on larger furnaces and full scale tests, we have shown that our furnace has excellent correlation with full scale testing, in excess of 96% correlation factor. Due to its modular nature it can also be used to test larger barrier panels mounted in the door. The furnace can run any fire test curve from the BS476 part 20-22 through to the EN1381-2 and UL1709 hydrocarbon curve.
  • A small scale jetfire rig used to develop intumsecent products required to pass hydrocarbon and jetfire test conditions
  • A Brandshaft simulator used to test specimens to the DIN 4102 test requirements.
  • An ASTM E84 simulator.
  • A radiant panel apparatus to simulate BS476 part 7 and EN5658.
  • To keep pace with the ever changing fire test standards FPW has recently constructed a small test cabinet capable of running the following tests:
    • EN ISO 11925-2 testing for construction
    • EN 531 tests on textiles
    • FAR 25 appendix G aerospace tests
    • UL 94 tests on cables, plastics and construction
    • FMVSS 302 testing for motor vehicle components.
    • The Limiting Oxygen Index  (ISO 4589-2.) is also integrated into this cabinet.

These pieces of equipment are custom built for our fire testing requirements, in order to accelerate our own developments. This equipment miniaturises large scale tests where necessary allowing rapid turn round of multiple data from small scale, bench prepared samples enabling us to predict their full scale test performance.

This apparatus is available for clients to use as a tool in their own product developments without involving us in their R&D. For fire protection we can simulate BS 476 parts 20-24 EN1381 and ASTM E119. The furnace can also reproduce the hydrocarbon curve. For reaction to fire we can either simulate or undertake on non-certified apparatus:

  • ASTM E84
  • FAR25 appendix G
  • FVP 3020
  • EN 13823
  • EN 9239
  • EN 11925
  • BS 476 part 6
  • BS476 part 7
  • En5658
  • DIN 4102 parts 2, 6 and 7
  • UL94
  • Limiting oxygen index