Syntactic core composite sandwich (SCCS) with thermoplastic foam and expanded glass granulate core

Ultra light, highly porous materials arranged as a sandwich structure with thermoplastic fiber reinforced composites (TP-FRC) as a cover layer have very good physical and mechanical properties. An essential prerequisite for the production of hybrid material composites is therefore the provision of material compatible and cost effective manufacturing processes. The lightweight potential of such a syntactic core composite sandwich (SCCS) with thermoplastic and expanded glass granules was examined with the aim of a mass production. After developing a manufacturing strategy, various samples are prepared and their mechanical properties are evaluated by performing bending tests and examination of micrographs.

The melt/shrink effect of low density thermoplastics insulates: Cone calorimeter tests

The melt/shrink effects on the fire behavior of low density thermoplastic foam have been studied in a cone calorimeter. The experiments have been performed with four samples of expanded polystyrene foams having different thicknesses and two extruded polystyrene foams. Decrease in surface area and increase in density, characterizing the melt/shrink effect have been measured at different incident heat fluxes. Three of these foams tested have been also examined by burning tests at an incident heat flux of 50 kW/m2. It was assessed that the fire behavior predictions based the current literature models provided incorrect results if the cone test results were applied directly. However, the correct models provided adequate results when the initial burning area and the density of the molten foam were used to correct the initial cone calorimeter data. This communication refers to the fact that both the effective burning area and the density of the molten foam affect the cone calorimeter data, which requires consequent corrections to attain adequate predictions of models about the materials fire behavior.