Properties of composite materials for thermal analysis involving fires

Inverse heat transfer analysis was used to determine thermal and physical properties of a coupon size glass reinforced vinyl ester composite sample from ambient to 800 °C. The decomposition of the coupon sample was measured to occur over the same temperature range as measured for fragment and powder samples in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA); however, the rate of change in mass was different resulting in different Arrhenius decomposition kinetic parameters. The specific heat capacity determined using a coupon sample was 15% higher than that measured in the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The apparent specific heat capacity, which includes the sensible and latent portions of the heat capacity, was calculated from the coupon sample data as well as the TGA and DSC data. These apparent specific heat capacities were input into a transient heat conduction model to predict the temperature profile through a sample. Though different apparent specific heat capacities were calculated, all model predictions were within 10% of the data.