Intumescent silicone-based coatings for the fire protection of carbon fiber reinforced composites

The application of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) in aircraft structure has introduced potential fire threats and fire protection must be provided. In this paper, intumescent silicone based-coatings (low and high intumescing coatings) are evaluated on CFRP using a bench developed in the laboratory mimicking a jet fuel fire occurring at high heat flux (200 kW/m2). It is shown the development of large intumescence (high intumescing coating) associated with appropriate thermal properties of the coating (heat conductivity measured as low as 0.3 W/m.K) provides efficient protection for the CFRP at the jet fire test. On the other hand, the formation of cohesive ceramic (low intumescing coating) with low heat conductivity (constant heat conductivity as a function of temperature of 0.35 W/m.K) also provides protection but its efficiency is lower than that of intumescent char. It is evidenced that intumescent silicone-based coatings are materials of choice for protecting CFRP in the case of jet fuel fire.

[1]  D. E. Vlachos,et al.  Fire Burnthrough Response of CFRP Aerostructures. Numerical Investigation and Experimental Verification , 2012, Applied Composite Materials.

[2]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Recent Advances for Intumescent Polymers , 2004 .

[3]  P. Castro,et al.  Assessment of Materials for Fuselage Panels Considering Fatigue Behavior , 2012 .

[4]  Y. Kameshima,et al.  Chemical Shifts of Silicon X‐ray Photoelectron Spectra by Polymerization Structures of Silicates , 2005 .

[5]  Stefanie Feih,et al.  Thermal–mechanical modelling of laminates with fire protection coating , 2013 .

[6]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Thermal degradation of polyurethane and polyurethane/expandable graphite coatings , 2001 .

[7]  A. Balandin,et al.  Two-dimensional phonon transport in graphene , 2012, Journal of physics. Condensed matter : an Institute of Physics journal.

[8]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Fire Performance of Curable Silicone-Based Coatings , 2012 .

[9]  A. Gibson,et al.  Integrity of composite aircraft fuselage materials under crash fire conditions , 2009 .

[10]  B. Parbhoo,et al.  Development of a methodology for XPS curve‐fitting of the Si 2p core level of siloxane materials , 2004 .

[11]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Characterization of the carbonization process of expandable graphite/silicone formulations in a simulated fire , 2013 .

[12]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane as flame retardant for thermoplastic polyurethane , 2009 .

[13]  S. Contarini,et al.  XPS study on the dispersion of carbon additives in silicon carbide powders , 1991 .

[14]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Multiscale Experimental Approach for Developing High-Performance Intumescent Coatings , 2006 .

[15]  S. Bourbigot,et al.  Thermal degradation and fire performance of intumescent silicone‐based coatings , 2013 .

[16]  John E. J. Staggs,et al.  Thermal conductivity estimates of intumescent chars by direct numerical simulation , 2010 .

[17]  E. Kandare,et al.  Fire structural modelling of fibre-polymer laminates protected with an intumescent coating , 2012 .