Fireproof wires and cables are a general term for cable products with fire-resistant properties, which can generally be divided into two categories: flame-retardant cables and fire-resistant cables. From the perspective of fire safety and firefighting rescue, there are increasing requirements for the fire resistance performance of cables, such as:

Flame retardant: This type of cable product can block and delay the spread of fire, preventing the fire from expanding.

Fire resistance: able to maintain normal operation for a certain period of time under flame combustion, that is, to maintain the integrity of the original circuit.

Halogen free: The material that makes up the cable does not contain halogens, and the corrosiveness of its combustion products is relatively low.

Low halogen: The materials that make up the cable may contain halogens, but the content will be relatively low.

Low smoke: During combustion, wires and cables produce less smoke and dust, resulting in higher light transmittance.

Low toxicity: The toxicity of the gas produced during the combustion of cable materials will be relatively low.

The research and development of flame-retardant and fire-resistant cables in China began in 1982. After five years, in 1987, many cable manufacturers had already started production and gained recognition from users. In response to the confusion surrounding the naming of combustion characteristics and cable models at that time, some people classified fire-resistant wire and cable products based on the combustion characteristics of wires and cables corresponding to the combustion test method, and used the Chinese Pinyin as the prefix for corresponding common wire and cable models. The ZR model for flame-retardant wires and cables and the NH model for fire-resistant cables have been used until today.

With the continuous development and research of fire-resistant cables, many existing models are no longer in use. In addition, more and more manufacturers are being put into production, and when formulating enterprise standards, they are also taking products related to cable models according to their needs, which has caused new confusion. One prominent point at present is that the combustion and characteristics of wires and cables are the same, but their names and models are different. Both the industry and users strongly demand a change in the current situation and hope to unify cable models.

For this purpose, the editor can provide a method for compiling models of fire-resistant wires and cables, which can serve as a reference for everyone when compiling enterprise or industry standards.

Principles for the preparation of fire-resistant wire and cable models:

(1) A model must correspond to a combustion characteristic, with corresponding test methods and specific indicators for assessment, and be represented by the * letter in Chinese Pinyin to simplify the process as much as possible;

(2) The fire-resistant cable model must be prefixed before the model code of ordinary wires and cables;

(3) The inherent combustion characteristics of ordinary wires and cables are not specified for other models;

(4) There must be room for future supplementary development.