Standard Performance Specification for Textile Materials for Wearing Apparel for Use by Electrical Workers Exposed to Momentary Arc and Related Thermal Hazards.
The fabric must not melt, drip, or have more than a 2 second after-flame and a char length of less than 6 inches when tested as received. It must also meet these requirements after 25 launderings as tested via the latest ASTM test method D6413.
What is ASTM F1506?
ASTM F1506 was developed to give minimum performance specifications for arc flash protective clothing. The major requirement of this specification was that the fabric used in garments is flame resistant and has been tested to ASTM F1959 to receive an Arc Rating or ATPV (Arc Thermal Performance Value).
What is ASTM F1959?
ASTM F1959, Standard Test Method for Determining the Arc Rating of Materials for Clothing, exposes panels of FR fabrics to electric arc flashes of varying energies. Both the heat transmission through the fabric and the energy released by the electric arc are measured. The data is evaluated against the Stoll curve (or second degree burn curve) and through logistic regression techniques, a data generated curve determines the probability of burn injury at various incident energies. The arc rating of the fabric or fabric system is then determined as the incident energy measured in cal/cm2 that has a 50% probability of causing a second degree burn thru the fabric. See the graph below.