Materials and products
We have some of Europe's most extensive facilities for fire research and research into materials and products. We perform fire tests in accordance with about 70 standard methods and we manage a wide range of research projects. We assess the growth of a fire from an initial ignition through to a complete flashover, by means of measurements of parameters such as heat release rate and evolution of toxic fire gases. We carry out tests needed for product classification and certification according to a large number of accredited test methods. We are a Notified Test Laboratory for many product standards, which makes us an ideal choice as a partner in the CE-marking process.
Research in this area is concerned with fires in buildings, furniture and beds, vehicles and ships. Using data on the fire performance of materials, we can calculate the behaviour of fires in several scenarios. Specific areas of research include the use of lightweight materials in ships, fires in cables, measurements of smoke and particle productions, explosions in aerosols and fires in vehicles such as buses and railway coaches.