The University of Auckland

Project #94: Investigation of fire reaction behaviour of composites for aircraft interior applications

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Description:

Flammability of composites is a critical issue in determining their uses in transportation application. Especially, the aviation industry has got the stringent regulations regarding fire properties of interior materials. AIM Altitude (aircraft interior design and manufacturing organisation) has found that unknown burning characteristics of the products lead to high variability of heat release results. As the most aircraft interior panels are based on the combination of detail (i.e. additional part) and substrate (i.e. bare panel), the research on fire reaction behaviour of the individual component and the combination is required to investigate the factors to influence on the heat and smoke production.

 

In the project, two types of details, such as flame resistant polycarbonate and natural fibre based polymer, will be used as the exposed part and will be attached to the sandwich panel, which has been used for the aircraft interior panels. In particular, a composite sheet containing natural fibre based flame retardant will be developed as a laminate and bonded with the sandwich panel to fabricate the aircraft interior prototype. Animal fibre, such as wool, will be used as flame resistant filler and reinforcement for the composite. A cone calorimeter will be employed to measure heat release and smoke production rates. The exposed heat flux and vertical position of specimens will be selected based on the standardised testing method-using Ohio State University calorimeter, which is mainly used to measure heat releases of aircraft interiors (14 CFD Part 25.853). Moreover, the vertical burn tests will be carried out to assess the burning behaviour of the composites according to the aviation regulation.

Type:

Undergraduate

Outcome:

The expected outcome of this project is to characterise the burning behaviour of the aircraft interior panels and suggest the possible application of natural fibre composite for the interior component to meet the flammability requirement.

Prerequisites

None

Specialisations

Categories

Supervisor

Team

Lab

CACM - Strength of Materials Lab (Newmarket 902 Lvl 3, Lab)