New IEC/ISO Standards on Fire Hazard Testing

Feb 1, 2000 12:00 PM, By EC&M Staff

Two recently published IEC/ISO standards in the IEC 60695-11 series on fire hazard testing provide the international community with important tools to ensure standardization of flame test methods, testing protocols, and procedures.

“The publication of these standards has resulted in the replacement of IEC 60695-2-4/0, IEC 60695-2-4/2, ISO 1210 and ISO 10351,” says Nic Maennling, secretary of IEC Technical Committee 89 (fire hazard testing). “Equally, several preeminent regional standards, including UL94 Test for Flammability of Plastic Materials for Parts in Devices and Appliances, as well as ASTM D635, ASTM D3801, and ASTM D5048 will be harmonized with these two new IEC standards, further enhancing their usefulness and value.”

The risk of fire is present in any energized electrical circuit. Therefore, it’s crucial for the designer of electrotechnical products to choose materials that reduce the likelihood of fire—even in the event of abnormal use, malfunction, or failure.

“The new IEC 60695-11 series of standards represents a significant enhancement to previously existing methodologies, through the application of state-of-the-art flame calibration procedures, together with more comprehensive specification for test hardware, materials and test procedures, resulting in substantial time and cost savings associated with the setup, calibration and conduct of these test methods,” says Maennling.

Contact the International Electrotechnical Commission by visiting www.iec.ch or calling `41 22 919 02 66 for more information.