A cost-effective approach to evaluate insulative materials for low heat flux applications

Insulative materials are used as thermal barriers to protect a substrate (e.g., wood, metal, or ordnance) from heat sources (e.g., fires or aerodynamic heating). Insulative coatings can be either inert, ablative, intumescent, or a combination of these three. This paper describes a cost-effective approach that we have developed to screen candidate materials for an application before proceeding with expensive qualification testings. Both radiant heat and hydrocarbon flame environments were used and compared. Several applications are discussed in this paper with emphasis on fast cookoff simulations. Eight insulative materials were tested and compared. Mass loss, maximum expansion, backface temperature, thermal margin, and surface and subsurface analyses were performed. 8 refs.