Evaluating the heat resistance of thermal insulated sandwich composites subjected to a turbulent fire

Abstract

Summary The fire structural response of sandwich composite laminates incorporating bio-derived constituents subjected to a turbulent flaming fire was investigated. Fire structural tests were conducted on thermal insulated sandwich composites incorporating a thin surface-bonded non-woven glass fibre tissue impregnated with char-forming fire retardant, ammonium polyphosphate. The sandwich composite laminates were loaded in compression at 10%, 15% or 20% of the ultimate compressive strength while simultaneously subjected to turbulent flames imposing an incident heat flux of 35 kW/m2. Generally, the failure time increased with the reduced applied compressive load. The thermal insulated sandwich composite laminates had considerably improved fire resistance in comparison to their unmodified counterparts. The unmodified composites failed 96 s earlier than the thermal insulated specimens when the compression load was 10% of the ultimate compressive strength. The presence of ammonium polyphosphate at the heat-exposed surface promoted the formation of a consolidated char layer, which slowed down heat conduction into composite laminate substrate. The fire reaction parameters measured via the cone calorimeter provided insights into the thermal response hence fire structural survivability of sandwich composite laminates.