Halogen-free cable compounds
Halogen-free compounds were introduced for safety reasons in the cabling industry in the 1970s. Before the use of halogen-free compounds cables caused a great amount of smoke and toxic fumes when a fire broke out. Huge fire events have raised more awareness towards the usage of halogen-free compounds in cables.
The most notable fire event is the King’s Cross Fire that killed 32 people in London’s underground railway. It was found that the majority of fatalities were caused by toxic gas and smoke inhalation rather than from the fire itself.
Cable manufacturers responded by developing materials that were highly resistant to fire with a considerably lower toxicity rate than halogenated cable materials. Eventually this resulted in the development of halogen-free cables which are nowadays utilized in many industries such as offshore, military, hospitals and many other confined-space applications.
In this eBook you can find the following content:
- Advantages of halogen-free compounds in plastic materials.
- Halogen-free compounds in cable jackets and insulation.
- Halogen-free cable test standards.