Low smoke halogen free Cables LSF Cables

Fire is a complex and emotive subject, the consequences of fire can be catastrophic.

The nature of organic material used in the cable manufacture of cables and possible installation conditions in areas of the fire risk can lead to a situation where cables may contribute to the spread of fire, emission of smoke and release of combustion products injurious to equipment and human health.

In power stations, hospitals, theatres, hotels and other large public buildings, the loss of visibility caused by smoke evolved from burning cable materials can cause panic and create serious problems when evacuating personnel.Location of the fire source and fire fighting are also greatly hampered by smoke. Additionally the presence of corrosive gases in the smoke result in damage and failure of sensitive electrical equipment and may initiate long term deterioration of structures, as well as being injurious to the health of personnel even after short exposure.

Awareness of this situation has lead to the development of new cable technologies and introduction by major cable users of cable types with low emission of smoke, corrosive and toxic fumes and reduced flame propagation properties.

In considering cable systems with improved fire performance characteristics it is useful to first consider the various aspects of the effect of fire on a cable:

Propagation of fire along cable runs

Evolution of smoke leading to obstruction of exits

Evolution of acid gas leading to corrosion of equipment

Evolution of toxic fumes leading to personal injury

LSF cables use special formulation based On non-halogenated polymers in order to restrict the generation of smoke as much as possible. Materials are carefully selected and the compounds carefully designed in order to ensure the best performance of the external sheaths, which are directly exposed to fire.

Our LSF Cables  have been designed to offer improved performance in areas where smoke and fume emission in the event of a fire would cause particular problems. Compounds used in LSF cables do not contain halogen hence, do not emit halogenated acids when burnt which help in minimizing the total cost of the damage caused by fire and generate little smoke when burned. Furthermore, the rate at which this low level of smoke is released, is very much slower than that of PVC or similar halogenated polymers.

Our LSF Cables  have controlled limits on smoke evolution, when assessed by burning samples of cables in a 3 meter cube smoke chamber as per IEC 61034. Generally these cables combine the properties of low corwsive gas emission and low toxic gas emission as they are essentially halogen free when assessed by IEC 60754-1 and IEC 60754-2.