Canada: Canada General Standards Board Update to Flammability Standard CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 27.5

Vol. 1341 | 17 Feb 2023

In January 2023, The Canada General Standards Board (CGSB) published the CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 27.5-2023 Flame Resistance – 45° angle test- One second flame impingement, which supersedes the CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 27.5 2008 and CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 30.3-1994.

For textile products under the Textile Flammability Regulations SOR/2016-194, as well as the tight-fitted children’s sleepwear under the Children’s sleepwear Regulations SOR/2016-169, the flame spread time must be determined according to the test method CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 27.5, which gets amended from time to time

This standard determines the flame spread properties of a textile product when a specimen is supported at an angle of 45°, and a flame is applied to its surface for 1 second. It also describes the dry cleaning and laundering procedures for removing non-permanent flame-retardant treatments applied to textile products.

The summary of changes is outlined below:

• Definitions for “base burn,” “charred/charring,” and “melting” have been added.

  Base burn- the base of a specimen having a raised fiber surface is ignited, charred, melted, or fused to a point where the damage is apparent from the underside of the specimen.

  Charring-formation of carbonaceous residue during pyrolysis or incomplete combustion.

  Melting- phenomena accompanying the softening of material under the influence of heat (including shrinking, dripping, and burning of molten material, etc.)

• Incorporated dry-cleaning requirements from CAN/CGSB-4.2 No. 30.3-1994.
• Added informative Annex B outlining burning codes to describe results, as listed below:
  • Did Not Ignite (DNI)
  • Ignited But Extinguished (IBE)
  • Surface Burn (SB)
  • Surface Burn, Base Burn (SBBB)
  • Surface Flash (SF)
  • Surface Flash, Base Burn (SFBB)
  • Timed Surface Flash (TSF)
  • Timed Surface Flash, Base Burn (TSFBB)
• Added informative Annex C to describe testing steps related to the presence of flame retardants.
• Updated figures.
• Updated washing and drying parameters, cooling times, and criteria for testing additional specimens.

The following is the link to the updated method: https://publications.gc.ca/site/eng/9.919243/publication.html  

For questions, please contact Vienna Chow (vienna.chow@intertek.com) or Harini Ramaswamy (harini.ramaswamy@intertek.com).