2024-03-14

British Standard: BS476-6 – Flame retardant testing of building materials, fire testing

The following content will explain the flame retardant and fire test standard BS 476-6 for building materials:

BS 476-6 Fire retardant testing of building materials – Standard name:

BS476-6: Fire Tests on Building materials and structures – Method of test for fire propagation for products
BS476-6: Fire retardant testing of building materials and building components – test method for product flame propagation

BS 476-6 Fire retardant testing of building materials – Overview of the standard:

The test results of BS 476-6 are expressed in terms of flame propagation index, which provides the measurement of flame generation of flat materials. BS 476-6 is mainly used to evaluate the flame retardant and fireproof performance of indoor wall materials and ceiling accessories.

BS 476-6 Fire retardant testing of building materials – Scope of application of the standard:

wall covering materials
thermal insulation material
Ceiling material

BS 476-6 Fire retardant testing of building materials – Standard analysis:

The BS 476-6 method is used to compare the contribution of various materials to the formation of fire, and is mainly used to evaluate the fire performance of wall and ceiling linings. The measurement results are expressed as flame spread index. The test device is shown in the figure below

The ignition sources for this method are 2 electric heaters and a tube blowtorch. The combustion tube of the device is equipped with a chimney, and a thermocouple is installed in the chimney to measure the temperature of the flue gas. The power of the electric heater is adjustable and it is 45mm away from the vertically placed specimen. The tube diameter of the tube blowtorch is 9mm, with 14 nozzles. The inner diameter of the nozzles is 1.5mm, and the center distance between each two nozzles is 12.5mm. Apply a blowtorch flame 25 mm above the bottom of the exposed surface of the specimen.

In order to evaluate the flame propagation performance of the tested material, a thermocouple was used to continuously record the difference between the temperature in the chimney and room temperature, and the result (the relationship between temperature difference and time) was compared with the calibration curve.

Calculate the flame propagation index i value: The higher the I value, the lower the flame retardancy of the material.

relevant test standards

BS 476 : Fire testing of building materials and structures
BS 476-3 : Fire test of building materials and components - Fire test of exposed parts of roof
BS 476-4 : Fire testing of building materials and structures - Material non-flammability testing
BS 476-5 : Test method for flammability of building materials
BS 476-6 : Fire testing of building materials and components. Part 6: Test methods for fire spread of products
BS 476-7 : Fire testing of building materials and components. Part 7: Test methods for determining the surface spread classification of product flames
BS 476-11 : Fire test of building materials and components. Part 11: Determination method of thermal radiation of building materials
BS 476-12 : Fire test of building materials and components. Part 12: Test method for flammability of products in direct contact with flames
BS 476-13 : Fire test of building materials and components Part 13: Test method for flammability of products exposed to thermal radiation
BS 476-15 : Fire testing of building materials and structures - Test method for product heat release rate
BS 476-20 : Fire resistance testing of building materials and components. Part 20: Test methods for fire resistance of building components (general principles)
BS 476-21 : Fire resistance testing of building materials and components. Part 21: Test methods for fire resistance of load-bearing components
BS 476-22 : Fire test method for non-loaded building elements
BS 476-23 : Fire test of building materials and components. Part 23: Test method for the contribution of components to the fire resistance of components
BS 476-24 : Fire testing of building materials and components. Part 24: Test methods for fire resistance of ventilation ducts
BS 476-31.1 : Fire testing of building materials and components - Method of measurement of smoke penetration through door and window assemblies. Measurement method at room temperature
BS 476-33 : Fire testing of building materials and structures - Physical indoor testing of surface products

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