The effect of intumescent mat on post-fire performance of carbon fibre reinforced composites

Chenkai Zhu, Jingjing Li, Mandy Clement, Xiaosu Yi, Chris Rudd, Xiaoling Liu

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

11 Citations (Scopus)
59 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of intumescent mats (M1 and M2) with different compositions on the post-fire performance of carbon fibre reinforced composites. The sandwich structure was designed for composites where M1 (carbon fibre reinforced composite-M1) or M2 (carbon fibre reinforced composite-M2) mats were covered on the composite surface. A significant reduction in the peak heat release rate and total heat release was observed from the cone calorimetric data, and carbon fibre reinforced composite-M1 showed the lowest value of 148 kW/m2 and 29 MJ/m2 for peak heat release rate and total heat release, respectively. In addition, a minor influence on mechanical properties was observed due to the variation of composite thickness and resin volume in the composite. The post-fire properties of composite were characterised, and the M1 mat presented better retention of flexural strength and modulus. The feasibility of two-layer model was confirmed to predict the post-fire performance of composites and reduce the reliance on the large amounts of empirical data.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)257-272
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Fire Sciences
Volume37
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2019

Keywords

  • Composites
  • flame retardant
  • intumescent mats
  • post-fire performance

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
  • Mechanics of Materials
  • Mechanical Engineering

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