What does the B1 certification entail?
More and more applications are placing higher demands on fire safety.
This mainly concerns interior applications in public spaces, such as schools, hospitals or trade fairs.
In this article we explain the different fire certifications and what classifications there are within those fire certifications.
The German Institute for Standards (DIN) is the German institute that has drawn up the requirements for fire safety of materials available within Europe, the so-called DIN 4102-1 classification.
Depending on their reaction to fire, materials are classified into a certain class.
Class A are non-flammable materials that do not actually occur in our market. Class B materials, on the other hand, are increasingly found, with a distinction being made between flame-retardant (B1), normally flammable (B2) and flammable (B3).
DIN EN 13501-1 is the European test standard for material behavior in fire.
This classification uses more classes than DIN 4102-1, although different classes can be used in parallel.
This classification also looks at smoke development (s) and dripping of burning particles (b), where a lower number after the letter indicates better fire safety. A, B and C classes are non- and hardly flammable materials, D, E and F are normally flammable and flammable materials.
Finally, a test called "Brûleur Électrique" is carried out in France, Luxembourg and Belgium, according to the NFP 92503 M1. It is more difficult for a material to meet an M1 certification than a B1 certification.
The classification of materials according to fire safety is shown schematically in the table below:
| Fire reaction | Fire certification DIN EN 13501-1 | Fire certification DIN 4102-1 |
| Not flammable | A1/A2-s1, d0 | A1 & A2 |
| Difficult to ignite | B, C-s1, d0 / A2, B, C-s2, d0 / A2, B, C-s3, d0 / A2, B, C-s1, d1 / A2, B, C-s1, d2 / A2, B, C-s3, d2 | B1 |
| Normally flammable | D-s1, d0 / D-s2, d0 / D-s3, d0 / D-s1, d0 / D-s1, d2 / D-s2, d2 / D-s3, d2 / E / E-d2 | B2 |
| Flammable | F | B3 |