Pyrolysis models have been developed to study the physical processes that occur in the condensed phase due to the influx of thermal energy as well as to generate predictions of the rate of flammable pyrolyzate gas production. Many of the pyrolysis models utilized in past studies have been developed for a single specific material, and in lacking generality, have required an extensive experimental effort or the use of numerical optimization algorithms to determine the parameters that account for slight modifications in the chemistry, structure, geometry, and sample orientation. This limitation of current parameter determination methods has resulted in reduced predictive capabilities of the resulting pyrolysis models. The work presented here has focused on the application of a parameter determination methodology to complicated multi-component systems with a particular focus on developing a pyrolysis model that can predict fire response as a function of the material composition. Several experiments with specimens ranging from milligram-scale to bench-scale were conducted on samples of a fiberglass reinforced unsaturated polyester composite comprised of various ratios of matrix to reinforcement phases to fully parameterize the pyrolysis model. A single set of properties was defined for each of the reinforcement and matrix phases and the properties were validated against experimental data collected outside the model calibration conditions. The resulting model was able to predict the instantaneous pyrolyzate gas production rate over a range of incident radiant heat fluxes and material compositions to within and average of 18% of experimental meaurements. This study demonstrated the ability of a pyrolysis model, parameterized through a systematic methodology, to produce accurate predictions of the fire response of a composite as a function of the material composition and emphasized the implications for the use of pyrolysis models in the design of composites that have strict flammability requirements.

Elucidating relations between material composition and flammability

252nd National Meeting (2016)

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