EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 13501-1
By admin . September 23, 2020 | News
What is EN 13501-1 ?
Fire safety is an important factor for constructing a safe building. As per importance of fire safety most of the countries have developed elaborated legislation regarding fire-safe construction. Typical and widely applied among them is the fire protection standard EN 13501-1, which is applied in Europe, where authorities have high requirements in fire safety for buildings.
European Standard EN 13501-1 provides the reaction to fire classification procedure for all products and building elements. According to this Standard, reaction to fire is the response of a product in contributing by its own decomposition to a fire to which it is exposed, under specified conditions (not to be confused with the fire resistance).
Product Classifications
Products are considered in relation to their end use application are divided into three main categories:
- Construction products;
- Flooring;
- Linear pipe thermal insulation products.
Construction products are classified according to harmonized test methods in Euroclasses A1, A2, B, C, D, E and F.
Products classified in a given class are deemed to satisfy all the requirements of any lower class. Products classified in A1 and A2 classes are non-combustible (cement, concrete, minerals, glass, fiberglass, rock wool, ceramic, etc.), materials certified from B to F are combustible in ascending order.
Flooring materials are classified according to the same classes A1, A2, B, C, D, E and F followed by the abbreviation “fl” flooring.
Classification according to European Standard EN 13501-1 |
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| Definition | Construction products | Floorings | ||||
| Non-combustile materials | A1 | A1fl | ||||
| A2 – s1 d0 | A2 – s1 d1 | A2 – s1 d2 | A2fl – s1 | A2fl – s2 | ||
| A2 – s2 d0 | A2 – s2 d1 | A2 – s2 d2 | ||||
| A2 – s3 d0 | A2 – s3 d1 | A2 – s3 d2 | ||||
| Combustible materials – very limited contribution to fire |
B – s1 d0 | B – s1 d1 | B – s1 d2 | Bfl – s1 | Bfl – s2 | |
| B – s2 d0 | B – s2 d1 | B – s2 d2 | ||||
| B – s3 d0 | B – s3 d1 | B – s3 d2 | ||||
| Combustible materials – limited contribution to fire |
C – s1 d0 | C – s1 d1 | C – s1 d2 | Cfl – s1 | Cfl – s2 | |
| C – s2 d0 | C – s2 d1 | C – s2 d2 | ||||
| C – s3 d0 | C – s3 d1 | C – s3 d2 | ||||
| Combustible materials – medium contribution to fire |
D – s1 d0 | D – s1 d1 | D – s1 d2 | Dfl – s1 | Dfl – s2 | |
| D – s2 d0 | D – s2 d1 | D – s2 d2 | ||||
| D – s3 d0 | D – s3 d1 | D – s3 d2 | ||||
| Combustible materials – highly contribution to fire |
E | E – d2 | Efl | |||
| Combustible materials – easily flammable |
F | Ffl | ||||
Additional classifications
All the materials classified A2, B, C, D obtain an additional classification regarding the emission of smoke and the production of flaming droplets and/or particles.
| Additional class | Level definition | ||
| Smoke emission during combustion | s | 1 | Quantity/speed of emission absent or weak |
| 2 | Quantity/speed of emission of average intensity | ||
| 3 | Quantity/speed of emission of high intensity | ||
| Production of flaming droplets/ particles during combusiont | d | 0 | No dripping |
| 1 | Slow dripping | ||
| 2 | High dripping | ||
- “s” Smoke emission level: values range from 1 (absent/weak) to 3 (high).
- “d” Flaming Droplets and/or particles production: values range from 0 (absent) to 2 (high).
For the E class is provided one single subclass d2.
For flooring products is provided the additional classification “s” for smoke emission only.
