Abstract
To develop a new material formulation meeting the stringent HL2-R1 requirement of EN 45545 railway standard, an innovative approach based on the reduced-scale fire testing was used in this paper. A concept combining the following elements was employed: (1) a polyolefin, (2) a reinforcing agent, (3) an intumescent agent acting in the condensed phase, (4) a char enhancer, and (5) an agent acting in the gas phase. This article presents a study of the opacity and toxicity of the smoke, as well as the heat released by this material when exposed to a radiant flux of 50 kW/m2. The study also encompasses the flame propagation when exposed to a large radiant flux. The diversity of the fire scenarios considered and the versatility of the material developed bring new solutions to the railway sector and open the way to the use of new manufacturing processes such as three-dimensional printing.
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