Insulation Material Testing and Certification at the VDE Institute

Insulation materials mainly serve a protective function. They protect what they surround from unwanted external influences, such as heat, cold or moisture. As such, they constitute an important part of product safety. As early as during the development process, the VDE Institute tests the insulation materials of your electrical product for standards conformity with respect to flammability and leakage current safety.

At the VDE Institute, you receive all tests from a single source. The insulation material tests are combined with other safety tests and are performed based on many different standards (VDE, DIN, EN, IEC).

Our service offerings in insulation material tests

Determining the comparative and proof tracking index of the solid insulation materials while using alternating voltage (leakage current test)
Determining the heat resistance of electric equipment, assemblies, components and solid insulation materials (ball pressure test)
Emulating the effect of small flames on electric equipment, assemblies, components and solid insulation materials (needle flame test)
Testing the flammability of materials and finished products (glow wire test)
Early detection and correction of weaknesses (during the development process), which would cause undesired breakdowns during operation

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VDE Certification of Plastic Materials

We offer manufacturers of plastic materials testing and certification for their products (granulates). As a result, the requirements for the DIN EN IEC 60335-1 “household appliances standard” can be taken into consideration as early as during the development of plastic materials.

Thanks to the VDE mark, granulate processors can rest assured that the requirements of DIN EN IEC 60335-1, particularly with respect to the flammability and ignitability of plastic materials, are met as early as during the plastic materials selection process. Furthermore, it simplifies the subsequent testing process for the household appliance to be certified, since the VDE Institute foregoes repeating the glow wire test on the final product during its product tests if VDE-certified plastics are used. As a result, development time is shortened and testing costs are reduced.

In DIN EN IEC 60335-1, special attention was paid to the fire safety of electric devices, which is reflected in the increased requirements on the fire resistance of insulating plastics during the glow wire test. As such, the consumer is offered greater safety, e.g. for devices that run unsupervised, such as washing machines or dryers. In order that all possible applications of plastic materials are covered, these tests are performed on the test plates of many different preferred thicknesses and many different colors. Distinctions according to many different thicknesses take into account the often differing fire behavior. This ensures compliance with the high demands of glow-wire testing on the end product via test plates.

In addition, we also offer the certification of plastic materials for the comparative tracking index (CTI) and heat resistance (temperature of ball pressure test). There are also a multitude of insulation material tests on printed circuit boards with usage certification according to DIN EN IEC 60335-1.

Auditing the plastics manufacturer

VDE certification of plastics is subject to very strict requirements to achieve optimum safety for consumers. Production facilities of plastics manufacturers are audited and certified with regard to quality assurance measures, among others. Surveillance inspections of the production facilities take place every year. In addition, select materials that were already certified are once again scrutinized for their material flammability characteristics to monitor quality.