Technical requirements for the use of engineering plastics in transport segments such as airplanes, maritime vessels, trains, building constructions and automotive can differ significantly per segment and application. Additional regional legislatory differences can further complicate the picture.

Generally, the requirements are directed towards the mitigating effects with respect to time to escape for passengers once a calamity such as fire occurs. In this context, additional focus will be given to constituing materials that increase survival chances by combining excellent flammability levels and low burning rates with low smoke opacity and low fume toxicity.
For train and construction industry, prime standards currently in place are:

French NFF 16-101/102 German DIN 5510-2 European CEN 45545-2

British BS 6853 Italian CEI 11170 American NFPA 130

The XANTAR^® product line has a long standing record of several specially developed grades that combine flame retardancy with demonstrated low smoke opacity and toxicity levels, thus fully meeting these transport requirements.

For example, our GF-reinforced XANTAR^® grades, such as 20%-GF FR XANTAR G4F 22 R, are best-in-class with respect to French NFF 16-101/102 (I2/F1), the new European CEN 45545-2 (R22 (2009: R23) & R23 (2009: R24): HL3) and widely adopted German DIN 5510-2 (S-4/SR-2/ST-2) standards. This grade combines all major existing norms to the highest level, which makes it ideally suited for E&E-type of applications, and can be used without need for additional tests or limitations of use.
This considerably reduces customers' development times: as the products made from e.g. XANTAR G4F 22 R are suitable for every stipulated hazard or risk class, they are ideal for realizing rail product platforms.

Similarly, transparent XANTAR RX 2124 not only shows a V-0 at 2mm flammability performance, but also demonstrates best-in-class I2/F1 performance according to the NFF 16-101/102 standard, thus allowing also the use of transparent PC for your design purposes.
The opaque, world record holding V-0 @ 0.75mm for all colours, XANTAR RX 2125 provides additional design and utilization options with its actual European CEN 45545-2 (R22 (2009: R23): HL2 & R23 (2009: R24): HL3) classification.

The materials mentioned here are not all-encompassing. Do not hesitate to contact us, to see how we can help you by combining our material and processing know-how with your application and product know-how.