ICAPE Group provides for the Railway industry, Smoke and Fire certified FR4 and IMS/MC PCBs.
ICAPE GROUP is one of the largest and most successful trading companies within Printed Circuit Board and related Technical Parts manufacturing. They offer a full range of technology services to customers in various industries worldwide, including the Railway Industry, through their three business solutions: IQTS (ICAPE Quick Turn Service), HMLV (High Mix Low Volume), and Mass Production.
Reference: CREPIM: Material & Fire Test Expert- www.crepim.com
Well consolidated with the recent IPO in July 2022, ICAPE GROUP is ready to continue the positive development and provide First Class Quality Assurance, Commercial Customer Service and Technical Support to Customers worldwide.
What is European standard EN 45545?
The European standard EN 45545 (Requirements for Materials & Components), introduced in 2013, is a mandatory requirement in Europe for all types of materials used in the railway industry to ensure the highest level of safety to protect passengers and railway staff against onboard fire incidents. The second part of the standard, EN 45545-2, defines tighter requirements for the smoke & fire behavior of materials and components. Paragraph “R25” in EN 45545-2 specifies the test methods, test conditions and reaction to fire performance requirements for printed circuit boards.
What are the test definitions to obtain Smoke & Fire certification according to EN 45545-2 R25?
There are two test requirements for the PCB base material including the Solder mask, and the Conformal Coating after assembly:
Glow wire test: Allum ability test dedicated to ignition time and flaming persistence measurement– NF EN 60695-2-10/11/12
The test simulates an electrical or electronic surge on the printed circuit board. A glow wire applies local heat with temperature up to 960°C onto a few square millimeters of the test subject for 30 seconds. Parameters as combustion duration, flame persistence and presence of fragment drops are evaluated and measured after removing the glow wire.
The wire temperature can vary from the ambient temperature to 960°C allowing the determination of parameters as the GWFI one or the GWIT one or to validate the behavior at a given temperature (750°C, 850°C …).
Smoke test according to ISO 5659-2
Principle for smoke measurement: The aim of ISO 5659-2 smoke test is to expose a material to specified thermal conditions of pyrolysis and combustion in a continuous procedure. The change in optical density of the smoke produced when dispersed within a fixed volume of air is recorded throughout the period of test. The smoke density / time curve is used to calculate the specific optical density figures, which can be used to determine VOF4, Ds4min or Dsmax as required for the specific product function. The test is performed in a chamber with volume of 0.5m3. The specimen is placed inside a small metal holder with only one side of the PCB exposed, since this is a surface test only. The container is then placed inside the chamber below a cone heater in a horizontal position. The irradiance level of the cone heater is set to one of the following levels, depending on the specific product function:
• 25kW/m2 in the absence of a pilot flame
• 25kW/m2 in the presence of a pilot flame
• 50kW/m2 in the absence of a pilot flame
Technology & Materials covered by ICAPE GROUP EN 45545-2 certifications. EN 45545-2 define three Hazard Levels: HL1, HL2 and HL3 with HL1 being the lowest requirement and HL3 being the highest. ICAPE´s EN 45545-2 certifications are all according to the highest level, HL3.
ICAPE GROUP´s EN 45545-2 certifications cover a broad range of technology and materials.
– All Technologies based upon base FR4 material Tg 130, Tg 150 and Tg 170 with thickness from 0,4-6,8mm and green solder mask.
– IMS and MC PCBs with Thermal Conductivity 3,0 W/m*K and with black or white solder mask.
– Conformal Coating AVR-80 – ICAPE GROUP has also extended their customer service to certify the Conformal Coating AVR-80, a flexible transparent acrylic coating for the protection of electronic circuitry after assembly.
Future projects and demands not covered by above mentioned certifications can be certified upon request. For more information about Smoke & Fire certification, please contact ICAPE Group’s technical department here: info@icape-group.com
