Effect of resin type and glass content on the reaction to fire characteristics of typical FRP composites

This study provides the composites industry and the fire engineering industry with baseline data for pyrolysis modelling of common FRP systems. All of the resins used are listed by the manufacturers as Class 1 or Class A per ASTM E 84. The composites are being evaluated in bench scale modern fire test apparatuses (FPA, ASTM E 2058 and Cone, ASTM E 1354). The minimum heat flux for proper ignition is used to compare these FRP systems according to resin type and glass content. Additional instrumentation was added to the specimens for surface and in-depth temperature measurements, which is needed for calculating thermal properties of the composites.