Flammability and Toxicity of Composite Materials for Marine Vehicles

Abstract

Characteristics of both thermoplastic and thermoset composite materials as they pertain to marine vehicle applications are discussed. Comparison of various material selection factors such as strength, damage and moisture resistance, and flammability and toxicity as well as cost and availability of thermoset and thermoplastic composite materials are presented. Methods for testing and reducing the flammability and toxicity are discussed. Many commercially available composite systems are reported to provide favorable characteristics for marine applications. Although there seems to be a need for improved production technology for thermoplastics, they present potential advantages in physical properties over thermoset composites.

Composites

“…16,24 Alumina hydrate and bromine compounds are other examples. 16,24 Alumina hydrate and bromine compounds are other examples.…”

Mechanical Property Degradation of Naval Composite Materials

“…[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Much less is known, however, about the structural response of composites to fire.…”

Fire Reaction Properties of Composites

“…In addition to phenolic resins, other highly aromatic thermoset polymers and many types of high temperature thermoplastics have low smoke emission. Examples include aromatic thermosets such as polyimides, cyanate esters and phthalonitriles as well as thermoplastics such as PPS, PES and PEEK [4,6,17,43,46,48,49]. Figure 3.24 shows the maximum smoke density values for various carbon fibre composites, and the smoke released by the thermoplastic materials is generally very low.…”