AFAP-01 reaction-to-fire tests for materials

What it is

AFAP-01 (NATO prints it AFAP-1) is the policy publication that heads the Allied Fire Assessment Publication series: AFAP-01 sets the framework, and AFAP-02 through AFAP-05 supply the individual test methods it points to. Edition 3 was promulgated in July 2010, is effective on receipt, and superseded Edition 2. It exists to give a designer a consistent way to pre-select materials for military platforms on the basis of how they behave in a fire, before those materials are specified into a design.

Who it is written for

The document says plainly that it "provides guidance to the designer on the performance requirements for control and pre-selection of materials for military applications" (Section 2.1). Contractors and suppliers are also named directly: NATO's Letter of Promulgation records that distributing copies "to Contractors and Suppliers" is "encouraged". A national Technical Authority sits behind both: it accepts the test laboratories a contractor may use, and it is the body consulted on which tests apply to which material.

How it binds

AFAP-01 does not bind by existing. It binds through STANAG 4602, "the agreement of interested nations to use this publication", and it reaches an individual supplier only when a contract or invitation to tender incorporates it (Preface). That means there is no general answer to whether AFAP-01 applies to a given programme: it depends on what the tender's fire-safety or quality clause names. It was developed, in its own words, "primarily for military applications on surface warships and submarines," though it can be adapted for land, air or defence clothing and commissariat use (Section 1.4).

What it covers, and what it explicitly does not

AFAP-01 covers non-combustibility, ignitability, flammability, smoke obscuration, toxicity, spread of flame and heat release, for materials such as insulants, composites, paints and coatings, deck coverings, bulkhead and ceiling finishes, textile fabrics and upholstery. It is just as specific about what sits outside it: electrical cables, complete items of furniture, systems such as fire doors, and any assessment of how a material behaves under attack from munitions, blast, shock or fragments are all out of scope. The classification tables in Section 7 are stated to apply to surface ships and submarines; the document says they are "not directly applicable to other military platforms and equipment (e.g. land, air)" without the Technical Authority adapting them first.

The seven tests, and what they feed into

Each fire property maps to a specific ISO-based test: non-combustibility (ISO 1182), oxygen index (ISO 4589-2), flammability temperature (ISO 4589-3 Annex A), smoke generation (AFAP-02, based on ISO 5659-2), toxicity of fire effluents (AFAP-03), surface spread of flame (AFAP-04, based on ISO 5658-2) and heat release rate (AFAP-05, based on ISO 5660). The results feed Section 7's classification tables: F1 to F4 for contribution to fire growth, S1 to S2 for smoke generation, T1 for toxicity of fire effluents, plus parallel scales for upholstered furniture, mattresses and bedding, and for vertically supported textiles and films. Oxygen index and flammability temperature are stated not to apply to paints, coatings or adhesives (Section 4.1.8).

Getting the laboratory and the test conditions right

Section 6 requires tests to run at "independent laboratories qualified to appropriate standards for quality management and for technical competence, as specified by the Technical Authority," and contractors "must verify the acceptability to the Technical Authority of the chosen laboratory before conducting a test" - an approval step, not a formality to complete after the fact. Section 5 then sets out how easily a result can be invalidated: substrate, specimen thickness, orientation of layered materials and even colour all affect the outcome, and "the results from a test are strictly applicable only to... the colour of the material used for the test specimen" unless the Technical Authority has agreed a wider basis for using them.

Recording the result

Every assessment is recorded in a national STANAG 4602 database using a controlled Item Reference format (Group, Sub-Group, Serial Number, Nation), a fixed keyword list, and standard datasheets (Annex 3). Once a nation's Point of Contact has issued a reference, "it shall not be changed by other nations when entering the data in their own database" (Annex 1) - the record follows the assessing nation, wherever the data is later shared.

How to get the document

AFAP-01 is a non-classified NATO publication and is free of charge. NATO's Standardization Document Database lists it; find the current listing through NATO's NSDD. We do not sell it or host a copy.

Standards it references

• AFAP-02Binds
• AFAP-03Background
• AFAP-04Background
• AFAP-05Background
• ANEP-77Background
• STANAG 1059Background