Publications

Swelling during pyrolysis of fibre–resin composites when heated above normal operating temperatures

Houchens, Brent C.; Scott, Sarah N.; Brunini, Victor E.; Jones, Elizabeth M.; Montoya, Michael M.; Flores-Brito, Wendy; Hoffmeister, Kathryn N.G.

It is experimentally observed that multilayer fibre–resin composites can soften and swell significantly when heated above their designed operating temperatures. This swelling is expected to further accelerate the pyrolysis, releasing volatile components which can ignite in an oxygenated environment if exposed to a spark, flame or sufficiently elevated temperature. Here the intumescent behaviour of resin-infused carbon-fibre is investigated. Preliminary experiments and simulations are compared for a carbon-fibre sample radiatively heated on the top side and insulated on the bottom. Simulations consider coupled thermal and porous media flow.