Webinar “Resistance to fire, heat and their contaminants” increases awareness for flame retardant solutions for transportation
During this year's webinar by Octima, solutions for the transport sector to protect against fire, heat and their contaminants were presented and discussed in detail.
The association Octima located in Italy and officially introduced at JEC Composites Show 2007, is devoted to all players involved in the complex industry of composites and they are dedicated to the different fields of use of composite advanced materials like transportation, military or building and construction (B&C).
In this webinar, they brought together stakeholders from different parts of the value chain. The focus was especially on industry relevant materials like paints, coatings, gelcoats and thermoset resins used to delay the spread of flames and heat on vehicles used for the transport. Different examples from railway industry, aviation etc. were shown.
Claudio Pagella from Iris Coating explained the fundamentals of intumescent and flame retardant coatings, and the relevant fire tests. These coatings are often used for protecting buildings in the case of fire. The building retains its stability longer because the supporting steel beams are protected by an intumescent layer that forms in the fire. Thus, the building retains its stability longer and people have enough time to escape. Nevertheless, coatings or also gel coatis on composites for trains are also essential features to protect the passengers in case of fire.
On the topic of railway, Stephan Hoffmann from Mäder gave an overview on solutions, that are for example used for the metro in Helsinki or even Sidney.
These solutions can be applied on composites as gelcoats or even thermoset resins used for composites. These resins can be processed by infusion and injection processes like vacuum infusion or resin transfer molding (RTM).
For these solutions the use of flame retardants is an important point.
Christian Battenberg from Clariant, presented and overview on flame retardants that can be used in all these solutions (presentation here). Besides solutions, that show low smoke production in the case of fire, extremely important for transportation, he also presented advanced new developments for liquid processing. This new type of lame retardants are especially suitable for liquid processes like RTM, where the use of flame retardants based on non-meltable powders, is not or only limited possible.
Overall, this webinar provided a good overview of available solutions for composites in transportation, as examples and success cases were presented by stakeholders from different parts of the value chain.
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