Safety Belts- Safety Properties

All DEPREUX belts have undergone the most stringent fire and anti-static testing testing to obtain the necessary certification and client approvals. Each country has adopted its own method of testing, DEPREUX are familiar with all the world's leading standards and fully comply with the UK, Australian, French, German, Indian, USA, Canadian, Chinese, RSA testing criteria along with many other of the world's testing authorities. Below, we describe the world's most popular standard (British Standard) as well as the American Standard (MSHA) which is a low-safety standard under scrutiny for a long period of time.

American MSHA Standard Fire Test (fire-retardant belts)

Bunsen Burner Type
Four specimens are prepared: two cut parallel to the warp and two parallel to the weft. The flame is applied for 1 minute in still air. The tests of the four specimens cut from any sample shall not result in either duration of flame exceeding an average of 1 minute after removal of the applied flame or afterglow exceeding an average of 3 minutes duration.

British Standard Fire Test (self-extinguishing belts)

Propane Burner Type
This test is designed to simulate the conditions of a fire in an underground gallery with ventilation. A sample of belt to be tested is placed on a supporting frame directly above a propane burner. The burner is ignited for a designated period of time consuming a specific quantity of propane. The fire source is then removed and the belt must self-extinguish leaving an area of the belt totally undamaged. This test is a demonstration that the belt will not support combustion when the source of the flame is removed.

Drum Friction Test
This test was developed to simulate a stalled belt where the drum continues to rotate against a sample belt and is to prove that the propagation of fire will not result from the drum's generated frictional heat igniting it. As an example, in the U.K. test, the drum temperature must not exceed 325°C before the belt sample breaks on the drum, in addition there must be no flame or glow at any time during the test or when the test is completed.

Similar to the propane burner test, the countries mentioned above have adopted slightly different variations of the test, concerning the running time and drum temperatures.

Flame Test
Small samples of finished belts are prepared, some are left intact and on others the covers are removed to simulate wear on the belts. These samples are held over a flame source for a certain period of time and once removed the samples must self extinguish. The time for the individual sample to extinguish is noted along with the collective time to conform to specifications.