- Author
- Macaione, D. P.
- Title
- Flammability Characteristics of Fiber-Reinforced Epoxy Composites for Combat Vehicle Applications. Final Report.
- Coporate
- Army Materials Technology Lab., Watertown, MA
- Sponsor
- Army Laboratory Command, Adelphia, MD
- Report
- MTL TR 92-58, August 1992, 22 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- composite materials | flammability | fire resistant materials | ground vehicles
- Abstract
- The use of composites in U.S. Army systems as a means of decreasing weight and enhancing survivability, without reducing personnel safety, has been considered for some time. The U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory (MTL) successfully demonstrated in an earlier program that a ground vehicle turret could be fabricated from fiber-reinforced composite material. This technology was successfully extended to the fabrication of a composite vehicle hull in an earlier phase of the current program. Organic polymers are one of the major constitutents of fiber-reinforced composites. As components of military systems these materials are expected to survive combustion and pyrolysis processes associated with fires. It is, therefore, necessary to develop an understanding of the flammability behavior of composite materials in the early design stages of a military vehicle such as the Composite Infantry Fighting Vehicle (CIFV), the Advanced Systems Modification (ASM), or any future U.S. Army combat vehicle. The present study attempts to characterize the flammability behavior of composite materials associated with Phase III of the CIFV Hull Program in terms of accepted fire resistant material evaluation parameters.