Platform
Modules
By sector
By sector
By standard
Blog
News
Events
AFAP-02
Test laboratories and national Technical Authorities measuring a material's smoke generation for a NATO tender or contract
AFAP-02 is NATO's laboratory method for measuring how much smoke a material produces under fire conditions, supplementing the ISO 5659-2 single-chamber test with extra specimen, calibration and reporting requirements.
AFAP-02 (NATO Allied Fire Assessment Publication 2, Edition 3, printed on its own cover as AFAP-2) is a laboratory test method for measuring how much smoke a material produces under specified fire conditions. Promulgated by NATO in July 2010, it does not create a new test from scratch: it takes the civil test standard ISO 5659-2:2006, "Plastics - Smoke generation - Part 2: Determination of optical density by a single-chamber test," and adds the specimen-preparation, calibration, procedure and reporting rules NATO needs to get consistent, comparable results from it across nations and laboratories, plus an additional optional parameter, VOF4, that measures how quickly a material starts producing smoke.
It is the second of a five-part NATO series that scores different fire characteristics of the same kind of candidate material: AFAP-1 sets the policy for pre-selecting materials, AFAP-2 (this document) measures smoke generation, AFAP-3 measures toxicity of fire effluents, AFAP-4 measures surface spread of flame, and AFAP-5 measures heat release rate. NATO is explicit that the series is a comparative screening tool for choosing between candidate materials, not a prediction of how a material behaves in an actual fire and not a pass/fail verdict on any one of them.
Three parties run through the document. A fire test laboratory carries out the physical test: preparing specimens, calibrating the apparatus, and recording results. A "Technical Authority", defined in the document as the relevant authority responsible for providing regulations and guidance on reaction-to-fire properties of materials associated with procurement and in-service support, decides things the document leaves open, such as which face of a laminated material to test or whether the specimen-holder grid is used. And a supplier or manufacturer provides the material under test, named in the finished report alongside the laboratory.
AFAP-02 has no force of its own. Nations record their agreement to use it in STANAG 4602, and it reaches an individual supplier only when a tender, contract or materials specification calls it up. The document itself is explicit on this: any enquiry about it "in relation to an invitation to tender or a contract in which it is incorporated" goes to the Technical Authority, not to NATO.
The core method comes from ISO 5659-2: a horizontal specimen is exposed to a radiant heat flux, and the chamber measures the attenuation of light as smoke accumulates, converted into a specific optical density, Ds. AFAP-02 sets three test modes: 25 kW/m2 without a pilot flame, 25 kW/m2 with a pilot flame, and 50 kW/m2 without a pilot flame, each run on three specimens. The fourth ISO 5659-2 mode, 50 kW/m2 with a pilot flame, is stated as not required.
AFAP-02's own additions replace or tighten several parts of the ISO procedure. The termination rule is rewritten: an initial test in each mode always runs the full 20 minutes regardless of when smoke output peaks, so a second peak (such as a layered material burning through to the next layer) is not missed; where that first test shows the peak within the first 10 minutes, later tests in that mode can stop at 10 minutes. A test can also be cut short once Ds reaches the document's own upper limit of 792, a ceiling the document sets because the underlying formula pushes toward infinity at very low light transmission and because readings that low are not considered accurate. If the pilot flame goes out from the smoke itself during a test, that specimen is discarded and a replacement run. VOF4, calculated only if the Technical Authority asks for it, adds up the specific optical density at one, two and three minutes plus half the value at four minutes, to flag materials that produce smoke early. Materials that behave as "intumescent" when tested 25 mm from the cone heater have that result discarded and are retested at 50 mm, with a note that results at the two separations may not be comparable.
Annex 1 gives material-specific preparation rules that are not in ISO 5659-2 at all: paint and coating systems are applied to 75 mm square mild steel panels, cured, then conditioned for 7 days and tested within a further 7; tube and pipe sections are cut into flat strips if flexible, or into a set number of 75 mm-wide curved segments if rigid; upholstered-furniture and mattress composites are built up to a maximum 25 mm test thickness, with individual component layers weighed and required to fall within 95-105% of the mean mass of a set of nine.
On the apparatus side, the working heat flux meter used to set the radiator cone has to be calibrated at the start of every testing day and be traceable, in no more than four steps, to the primary standard held by LNE in France or SP in Sweden. Annex 3 gives a full worked transfer-calibration procedure, including an example calibration equation derived from measured data. The specimen-holder grid described in ISO 5659-2 is not used by default; it only comes into play if the Technical Authority specifies it, for example in a materials specification.
Section 11 fixes a long list of what a test report must contain: laboratory and supplier or manufacturer identity, test dates, a full material description (including NATO Stock Numbers where known), the specimen construction and which face was tested, per-specimen results (Ds,max, the time it occurred, Ds10, VOF4 if calculated, and the clear-beam correction factor DC), the mean values across each of the three modes, observations and any invalid tests with reasons, and a fixed statement that the results relate only to the specimens tested under the particular conditions of that test. Annex 4 gives an optional pre-formatted datasheet for recording this, carrying the security-marking layout used by the STANAG 4602 materials database that AFAP-1 describes, which suggests results are meant to be kept and reused rather than generated once and filed away.
AFAP-02 says nothing about which materials need this test on a given programme, what smoke-generation limit a specification should set, or how the result feeds a wider material decision; those are set by the contract, the materials specification, or the Technical Authority, not by this document. It also does not predict how a material will smoke in a real fire: its own series preface is explicit that these tests are a comparative screening tool for pre-selecting candidate materials, run before a design commits to a specific one.
Working to AFAP-02 is laboratory work: cutting and conditioning specimens, calibrating a heat flux meter, running a smoke chamber, and calculating Ds and VOF4 from the recorded data. ComplyTrain does not do any of that, and does not replace the test laboratory or the Technical Authority.
What ComplyTrain supports is the record-keeping around it: holding the materials specification and any Technical Authority determinations, such as which face to test or whether the specimen grid is used, as controlled documents tied to a specific part or material; keeping test reports, heat flux meter calibration certificates and their traceability chain as retrievable evidence linked to the material they cover; and tracking which materials have already been tested, and against which contract requirement, for when the same material comes up again.
Which materials a given programme requires this test for, and what smoke-generation limit a specification sets, is fixed by the contract and the customer's quality clause, not by this page. The standards explorer shows what else sits alongside AFAP-02 in the AFAP series and the wider STANAG 4602 family, and we are glad to talk through how you would evidence this kind of testing.
Tell us how you need to work with AFAP-02 and what you need from it. We will come back to you about what ComplyTrain can do.
Thank you. Your list is on its way to your inbox, and we will come back to you on what working with these standards in ComplyTrain involves, usually within one business day.
Not by itself. It becomes an obligation only when a nation has agreed to use it through STANAG 4602 and a specific tender, contract or materials specification then names it or requires the smoke-generation evidence it produces.
A fire test laboratory equipped with an ISO 5659-2 single-chamber smoke apparatus and a properly calibrated heat flux meter. The material's supplier or manufacturer provides the specimens, and a national Technical Authority sets any requirements the document leaves open, such as which face to test, and reviews the finished report.
No. AFAP-02 defines a laboratory test method and the content of its test report. It names no certification, accreditation or audit body, and the only traceability requirement it sets is on the test apparatus itself, not on an organisation. Nothing, including a compliance tool, can be "AFAP-02 certified."
ISO 5659-2 is the underlying civil single-chamber smoke test. AFAP-02 adopts it and adds NATO-specific rules on top: material-specific specimen preparation for paints, pipes and upholstery, a stricter calibration-traceability chain, a changed test-termination rule, and the optional VOF4 parameter for early smoke generation that ISO 5659-2 does not include.
From NATO. It is free of charge, obtained through the NATO Standardization Document Database or your national STANAG point of contact, never as a paid or third-party copy.
One system for the whole compliance programme. Start with the module you need most.
Collect information the same way every time, and decide in advance what happens next.
Know whether your controls are operating, not just whether a policy says they exist.
Turn the compliance work you already know about into a plan with owners, dependencies and dates.
Know what you can offer, and hold the evidence behind every configuration you offer it in.
Eight built-in reports across every module, scheduled, delivered, and filed where the evidence lives.
The sector news that matters to your organisation - read and rated by AI, and delivered as a scheduled digest in your own language.
AI reads the tender pack and pulls out the requirements, deadlines and rules - then helps you draft the response from your own approved content, with you reviewing every step.
One current register of the suppliers and partners you depend on - each risk-assessed, re-assessing itself on schedule, and wired straight into your risk register.
See every requirement you face - across every standard, plus your own contracts and policies - traced to the documents, evidence and processes that satisfy it.
Identify, score, treat and review your risks in one place - with AI to help anyone run a proper assessment, and a defensible trail behind every decision.
Assign training, prove it was understood, and hold the competence records an auditor asks for.
Draft compliance documents with AI, keep every version under control, and export them beautifully branded - all in one place.
Audits, corrective actions, processes and approvals in one quality system, organised around ISO 9001.
Medical device manufacturers operate under more regulatory pressure than almost any other sector outside pharmaceuticals. The rules govern how you design a device, how you make it, how you track it after it ships, and how you respond when something goes wrong.
Learn how EU dual-use export controls apply to encryption, sensors, and software, how classification works under Annex I, and why sending source code by email can count as an export.
A practical way to turn in-your-head risk management into a register that survives staff turnover and answers the risk questions now showing up in tenders.