OVERVIEW OF COMMON METHODS FOR FIRE TESTING

Fire testing is critical for assessing the behavior of building materials under fire conditions, providing indispensable insights into important variables such as flammability, heat release rate, and smoke production. This paper provides an overview of common fire testing methods, including the procedures for test selection, sample preparation, data collection, and analysis. These fire testing methods are outlined in standards issued by world-respected standardization bodies such as ISO, EN, ASTM, and UL. These standards guarantee and ensure the consistency and reliability of prescribed methods. Moreover, this paper presents a detailed description of a custom-made installation hosted at the Fire Protection Laboratory at the Faculty of Occupational Safety, University of Niš, used for evaluating the flammability parameters of a broad spectrum of materials. This hyphenated installation, comprising a mass loss calorimeter and an FTIR gas analyzer, can be used for comprehensive and simultaneous real-time measurement of flammability parameters and fire effluent analysis.