Construction material testing services

European standard EN 13501-1 is used as the basis for construction material fire classification. This “parent standard “specifies other EN and EN ISO standards for the testing of specific types of construction elements, such as flooring, pipes, and non-flooring. The applicable standard also depends on the desired fire class, with more stringent testing requirements for higher classes.

Some of the most popular construction material fire tests include the following: 

• EN 13823 test for classifying non-floorings into classes A2, B, C, and D with the single burning item (SBI) method

• EN ISO 9239-1 test for classifying floorings into classes A2fl, Bfl, Cfl, and Dfl

• EN ISO 11925-2 ignitability test for classifying various types of construction materials into classes B, Bfl, BL, C, Cfl, CL, D, Dfl, DL, E, and Ef.

• EN ISO 1182 non-combustibility test for classifying various types of construction materials into classes A1, A2, A1fl, A2fl, A1L, and A2L.

• EN ISO 1716 test for classifying several material types into classes A1, A2, A1fl, A2fl, A1L, and A2L.

If construction elements are used on buses, their burning and melting behavior is assessed using the UN/ECE R118 regulation as a safety reference. For building elements used on ships, the appropriate safety reference is IMO 2010 FTP Code.

Construction materials can be screened for several types of hazardous substances that may be released into the environment during construction. These include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and heavy metals. Concentrations should not be too high to ensure material safety and compliance with local regulations.