LABINSIGHT: getting to know the Fire Reaction Laboratory

Hello, I am Giombattista Traina, Director of the Fire Reaction Section of Istituto Giordano.
Operational since the early 1990s, the area tests the behaviour of products and materials mainly for the building and transport sector but also carries out tests in the naval and electrical sectors.


First, a distinction must be made between Reaction and Fire Resistance. 
Fire Reaction tests the conduct of products and materials in the early phase of a fire, while Fire Resistance deals with the behaviour of partitioning elements in the late stage of a fire. 
For the reaction to fire of construction products, we speak of classes A1, A2s1d0, up to class E or F, or class 1, if Italian methods are used. For fire resistance, we speak of REI, EI and similar classes. 

Which products do you test? 
The laboratory space at the Gatteo site allows us to test products of all sizes for various national, European and international test methods. In particular, we check the following: 
What are the primary authorisations and notifications held by the laboratory?
The workshop is:

Fig.1 Roof fires CEN TS 1187 T2	Fig. 2 UNI 9174 test	Fig.3 SBI EN13823

 
Let us go into more detail. Which tests do you perform, and on which products?
For the civil/building sector, products can be tested using Italian or European methods, while European or international methods are always used for other sectors.
From mid-2022, in Italy, it is no longer possible to assign the Italian class to construction products and the famous fire reaction class 1 (UNI 9177) is only used for curtains and technical installations such as photovoltaic panels. 
The primary regulatory standards applicable in this area are:
For European classes A1, to be assigned to non-combustible products, up to class E or F for highly flammable products, the following tests apply instead: 
 
As far as transport is concerned, Istituto Giordano has invested heavily in recent years to renew its equipment fleet to test materials that go into trains, to be classified with EN 45545, and into ships to be certified MED, with FTP CODE 2010 tests. 
The primary testing standards used in this area are:

Fig. 4  Fume toxicity ISO 5659 EN 17084	Fig. 5 Calorimetric Cone ISO 5660	Fig. 6 Panel ISO 5668 FTP CODE 1

The laboratory then performs a whole series of other tests for the electrical sector, with needle flame, Glow wire test, UL 94 and the characterisation of upholstered products, such as sofas and mattresses, according to the primary national and international standards, UNI 9175, EN 1021-1 and 2 EN 597-1 and 2 and more.



The team consists of qualified technicians who are always up-to-date with developments in the industry. In addition, the laboratory actively participates in the work of European and national standardisation groups, including EGOLF, CEN/TC 127, SH02 - GNB, and UNI/CT 011/GL 01. 


For more information on the tests visit the page

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