Quantifying the Thermomechanical Resilience of Cross-platform Advanced Composite Materials Exposed to Fire Conditions

The use of carbon fibre composite materials is essential in delivering current and next generation transport systems. Despite the clear advantages of such materials challenges remain in quantifying risks associated with use under extreme loading. In particular the effect of fire loading on structural Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP) is poorly understood, particularly in complex applications such as aerospace and transport where the degradation in material properties may be increased by feedback between the combustion processes and material properties.

The current state of the art relies on a two-layer model of char and undamaged CFRP to evaluate the residual strength. Such models are limited in application as they do not take into account the impact of real conditions such as evaluation of residual strength accounting for differences in the combustion processes which will be affected by the end use application of the material e.g. airflow over an aircraft structure, or oxygen concentration in a confined space.

The project will consist of three distinct work packages to deliver a truly coupled quantification of the mechanical properties of CFRP as a function of the combustion processes. These will address:
1. the thermochemical response of CFRP subject to fire conditions;
2. the mechanical response of damaged CFRP sections subject to tensile and flexural testing;
3. novel experimentation to derive coupled thermomechanical material response.

This will allow a move away from traditional, empirical material/component testing approaches to allow predictive response of failure of CFRP components exposed to fires.