Experimental Thermal Behavior of Fibrous Structures for High-Performance Heat Resistant Fire Curtains

Abstract

Fibrous materials are often used in the manufacturing of fire protection devices such as fire curtains. Their optimization and improved performance is still a topic of interest. The present work aims to develop and test a new combination of fibers arranged in various 2D and 3D patterns with coatings. For this purpose, basalt fibers were added into a glass fiber fabric, and wires of a shape memory material (SMM) were inserted into the fabric to create air pockets induced by temperature. In fire curtains, the base structure is a 2D basket pattern, and all combinations were tested with and without a waterborne polyurethane (WPU) coating with inorganic materials. Three different tests were selected to characterize the thermal behavior: fire resistance, ignitability, and smoke production. Fiberglass proved to be the best material to provide thermal resistance in fire curtains, with the outer surface temperature of the fabric below 650 °C at the end of the tests. The SMM wires provided good protection during the initial stages of the test, but a combination of excessive deformation and reduced strength of the fabric resulted in a sudden failure of the structure. Basalt fibers contribute to a reduction of smoke production. It was observed an improvement of up to 10% in the thermal capacity between 1MIX2 (glass fibers fabric with coating, MIX2) and the best commercial curtain evaluated, Commercial3 (glass and steel fibers fabric with coating).

The Fire Resistance of Transformable Barriers: Influence of the Large-Scale Factor

“…Based on a patent search and analysis of scientific literature [28][29][30][31], eight samples were constructed, additionally containing in the first and last layer a silica heat-shrinkable fabric KT-E-115-TO (Table 2), This means that Sample No. 1 was composed of heat-shrinkable fabric + intumescent composition + heat-shrinkable fabric.…”

Failure analysis of glass fiber and basalt fiber reinforced polymer composites under an extreme environment with high‐temperature, high‐pressure and H2S/CO2 exposure

“…However, Hogg et al 15 discovered that acidic media could infiltrate along the fiber-resin interface in acidic environments, leading to debonding between the resin and fibers. Also, Cunha et al 16 reported that basalt fiber reinforced epoxy composites show better acid resistance than glass fiber reinforced epoxy resin composites. Zhang et al 17 performed a comparative analysis of the degradation behavior of GFRP and BFRP in both acidic and alkaline solutions, finding that BFRP displayed enhanced degradation resistance under both conditions.…”