Citation

Sorathia U, Perez I. Fire Polym. IV Mater. Concepts Hazard Prev. 2006; 185-198.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, American Chemical Society, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Due to their inherent characteristics, fiber reinforced plastics (FRP), also referred to as polymer matrix based composite materials (PMC), have been making steady inroads into naval military systems for the past 10-15 years Chief among their characteristics is the stiffness to weight ratio (much better than steel or aluminum), and the resistance to chemical attack (e g. corrosion resistance) US Navy is currently using sandwich composites in most surface ship topside applications The sandwich composite consists of brominated vinyl ester resin with glass or carbon reinforcement and balsa wood core. The unprotected vinyl ester based sandwich composite does not meet all of the Navy's fire performance goals for interior applications In order to use such composites inside the ship for manned spaces, it must be protected with either passive (fire insulation) and/or active (water mist) fire protection systems Such fire protection adds weight and cost Navy has invested over $10M over the last 5 yrs in SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) programs to develop flame resistant polymers suitable for room or low temperature processing by Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) Such flame resistant resins could then be used to produce sandwich composites that would meet the Navy's fire growth requirements without the need for passive fire protection In this paper, we have presented summary of some of the R and D programs that the Navy is pursuing to address this issue Selected low cost screening test procedures to facilitate such development are also discussed.