Effect of Surface Coatings on Fire Growth Over Composite Materials

摘要

Structural composites are vulnerable to fire in two respects: (1) their resincontent may ignite and enable the spread of flames over the surface of the structure: (2) the resin may degrade from the heat of a localized fire exposure thus weakening the composite structure. The present study focuses mainly on the first issue, in particular, on the ability of various commercial coatings to prevent flame spread. The second issue is examined briefly by applying thermocouples to the back surface of test specimens. Four commercial coatings have been tested over an unretarded vinyl ester/glass composite. In addition an uncoated phenolic/glass composite and a polyester/glass composite coated with a fire retarded resin were tested.