Fire performance assessment of FRP materials

Abstract

The European FIBRESHIP research project aims to develop a comprehensive set of methods that would enable the building of the complete hull and superstructure of over 50-metre-long ships in fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. In the work package dedicated to materials selection, an extensive experimental campaign is performed to characterize the fatigue and fire performance of a range of FRP materials and solutions. In this paper, the cone calorimetry results of FRP laminates are introduced in terms of ignitability, heat release, smoke production and effective heat of combustion. The fire performance of FRP materials can be considerably improved by suitable intumescent coatings. Coatings can significantly change the shape of the heat release and smoke production rate curves, and reduce their maximum values. Even though fire performance is of high importance in the use of FRP materials, also other properties, such as mechanical properties and manufacturing, need to be taken into account. In some cases, products with excellent fire performance have to be discarded from further considerations due to other issues.

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