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Assessing the structural integrity of carbon-fibre sandwich panels in fire: Bench-scale approach
(2019)
The fire resistance of lightweight sandwich panels (SW) with carbon fibre/epoxy skins and a poly(methacryl imide) (PMI) foam core is investigated in compression under direct application of a severe flame (heat flux=200 kW m−2). A bench-scale test procedure was used, with the sample held vertically. The epoxy decomposition temperature was quickly exceeded, with rapid flash-over and progressive core softening and decomposition.
There is a change in failure mode depending on whether the load is greater or less than 50% of the unexposed failure load, or in other words if one or two skins carry the load. At high loads, failure involved both skins with a single clear linear separation across each face. There is an inflection in the failure time relationship in the ∼50% load region, corresponding to the time taken for heat to be transmitted to the rear face, along with a change in the rear skin failure mode from separation to the formation of a plastic hinge. The integrity of the carbon front face, even with the resin burnt out, and the low thermal diffusivity of the core, both play key roles in prolonging rear face integrity, something to be borne in mind for future panel design. Intumescent coatings prolong the period before failure occurs. The ratio of times to failure with and without protection is proposed as a measure of their effectiveness. Apart from insulation properties, their adhesion and stability under severe fire impact play a key role.
The functionalization of a natural sodium montmorillonite (MMT) with (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane by a silylation procedure is presented, and its use as nanofiller in the melt compounding of low density polyethylene (LDPE) nanocomposites. In particular, the effects on the thermal stability and flame retardant properties of melt compounded LDPE nanocomposites are analyzed, with and without magnesium hydroxide (MH) as an additional conventional flame retardant. The purpose was to investigate possible synergistic effects between the two inorganic fillers on fire behavior. The obtained organosilylated clay showed higher interlayer spacing than the original MMT and good thermal stability, higher than that of many commercial organoclays modified with alkylammonium salts. Its addition to LDPE allowed the production of hybrids with nanoscale dispersion of the filler, as demonstrated by X-ray diffraction. The simultaneous presence of MH, which strongly interacts with the nanoclay, hindered intercalation of the polymer chains between the clay galleries and clay layer exfoliation within the LDPE resin.
The investigation of the thermal and burning behavior of the LDPE nanocomposites indicated that the organosilylated clay alone shows only a limited residual protection layer effect. In combination with MH the nanocomposites have a small adverse effect on the reaction to small flame as measured by the Oxygen index and UL 94 testing, and, surprisingly, no effect on the peak heat release rate in the cone calorimeter. The quality of the fire residue was lacking on the microscopic scale. The ternary LDPE/MH/ organoclay systems investigated did not open the door to reducing MH content in halogen-free flame retardant LDPE yet, but demand further research.
Ti-Al-Nb based intermetallic layers of sufficient quality and thickness were obtained by non-vacuum electron beam cladding on the surfaces of Ti workpieces. Optical microscopy and X-ray tomography did not reveal any dramatical defects in the structure of cladded layers. X-ray diffraction as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy were applied to thoroughly investigate the structure and phase composition of coatings. It was found that non-equilibrium cooling conditions of coatings provided by fast removal of heat to untreated Ti substrate after the electron beam cladding was terminated induced the proceeding of metastable phase transformations. For example, γ-phase formation was suppressed in these coatings. In coatings with 8 and 20 at.% Nb (46 and 43% Al respectively) along with ordered with α2, formation of disordered solution of the alloying elements in α-Ti took place. In high-Nb alloys β(B2) phase has undergone the diffusionless transformation to ω’, which is the intermediate phase in β → ω and the coating with the maximum Nb content characterized by appearance of γ1 as a main phase. ω-phase had negative influence to hardness and wear resistance of coatings, however, generally this paremeter increased in 1.3–1.75 times compared to cp-Ti. The high temperature creep and oxidation properties decreased proportionally with increasing Nb and decreasing Al content in the cladded layers.
The fire behaviour of light-weight material used in structural applications is regarded as the main challenge to be solved for mass transportation. The task is to perform realistic experiments, including a mechanical test scenario under fully developed fires, to improve the material's reliability in structural applications. Our approach utilises an intermediate-scale test set-up (specimen size 500 × 500 mm) to apply realistic compressive loads and fully developed fires directly to one side of a carbon-fibre-reinforced sandwich composite. Three different intumescent coatings were applied to sandwich structures and compared to a bench-scale study. The results emphasise intumescent coatings as a promising method to sustain fire resistance, multiplying the time to failure. Nevertheless, the realistic intermediate-scale test using severe direct flame application underlines the extremely short failure times when the actual composite components are tested without any additional insulation.