MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMER COMPOSITES DURING FIRE

摘要

This paper describes the development of a small-scale propane burner test to enable rapid characterisation and testing to be carried out on composite systems under reproducible conditions of either hot face temperature or heat flux. The burner rig is a low cost device which enables a 100 mm square specimen to be subjected to a near uniform heat flux over its surface. The heat flux can be calibrated by means of a copper slug heat flux meter. Fluxes in the region of 25 kWm~(-2) up to 180 kWm~(-2) are possible. In addition to measuring the integrity of composite laminates in fire it can also be used to measure the heat flux through a protection laminate into an underlying substrate. The test has been found particularly useful in characterising the performance of various types of composite structure under load, including both laminates and pipes under pressure. Some examples are given. It was found that the survival times of loaded composite structures in fire can be short, especially when the load involves compression. This underlines the need for fire protection of composite structures.