Kabelwerk
Günter Beyer, Kabelwerk Eupen, summarised current knowledge on how materials fire performance can change with ageing. Ageing can see breakdown of polymer molecules into shorter chains, leading to lower viscosity and so deteriorated fire performance.
On the other hand, migration of fillers or low molecular weight additive flame retardants to the polymer surface can actually improve fire performance. Tests showed that LS0H (low smoke zero halogen) flame retardant cables, formulated using PIN flame retardants (combination of aluminium tri hydrate and nanoclays) maintained their fire performance and quality of char formation during ageing, continuing to pass Construction Product Regulation class Cca-s1-d2 (low smoke).