Evaluation of thermally resistant polymers using cone calorimetry

摘要

The effectiveness of a set of thermally resistant polymers was evaluated for aircraft applications using the cone calormeter (ASTM E1354/ISO 5660) under heat fluxes simulating real scale fires. This study includes eight developmental and commercial thermally resistant polymers availabile in the iterature and/or marketplace. The polymers included are aromatic polyester, polyethermide, fluorine-containing polyetherketone, phosphorus & fluorine-containing co-polyetherketone, fluorine & phosphorus-containing polyether, fluorine-containing polyester, poly(dimethylsiloxane) ethermimide, and polysulfone. Effects of fluorine, phosphorus, silicon, and sulfone group in polymers were exmained. This evaluation was based on time to ignition, peak, average, and total heat relesase rates obtained at external heat flux of 50 kW/m~2. Other parameters such as effective heat of combustion, mass loss, and rate of smoke and toxic gas evolution were collected during the cone calorimeter test.