AircraftFire Colloquium, 8th-10th July 2014, Brussels, Belgium

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

This colloquium brings together interested people from science (students and researchers from academia and research centres), from industry (engineers, aircraft designers, parts manufacturers,…) and professionals from or related to public services, who are working in the field of fire safety in aeronautics.

The Context:

For 20 years, the fire threat in aeronautics has been drastically reduced. But in new generation aircrafts the massive use of flammable composites, substituting metallic structural elements, changes the understanding of fire risk, and influences the fire safety approach for passenger and crew safety and survivability during fire incidents.
As recent contribution the FP7 project AircraftFire (AcF) is aimed at the characterisation of the flammability and burning properties of aeronautical composites for fuselage, wings, structures, fuel tanks, cabin materials and their influences on the mechanical behaviour and at the investigation of the effects on in-flight fire growth in the cabin and on passenger evacuation during post-crash fire.

The Objectives:

The first part of the meeting, on July 8th, will provide “Fundamentals and state of the art in fire safety in aeronautics”. Experts from the AircraftFire project will present the main physical phenomena involved in aeronautical fires as well as the experimental and numerical methodologies developed by AircraftFire.
The second part of the meeting, on July 9th and 10th, will be particularly focused on “New issues for fire safety in aeronautics”. Areas such as the fire retardants, the mechanical strength of burning composites and ignition by equipment devices are not in the focus of the AircraftFire project. External experts will share their experience to identify the remaining lack of knowledge and understanding in these domains. An open panel discussions will address topics of aeronautics fire safety related to batteries, seat foam, thermo-acoustic blankets, engine fires, avionics equipment, fuel tank inerting, oxygen threat (masks and fuel cell), firefighting. Presentations outlining the current regulations and the physical aspects of certification tests for the materials complete the holistic approach of this event. Read more: click here: programme and more détails…

Filed under: Events, News | Comments Off on AircraftFire Colloquium, 8th-10th July 2014, Brussels, Belgium

3rd Conference on Fire in vehicles

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

The 3rd Conference on Fire in vehicles will be held in Berlin, Germany, 1-2 October, 2014.

More information: click here

Filed under: Events, News | Comments Off on 3rd Conference on Fire in vehicles

HBCDD consortium submits REACH authorisation dossier to ECHA

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

http://www.reachcentrum.eu:

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) raw material manufacturers, participating in the hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) authorisation consortium successfully submitted an application for authorisation to the European Chemicals Agency by the 21 February deadline. Project managed by ReachCentrum with the technical support of PFA Ltd and eftec, submission occurred to obtain an extension of the use of HBCDD as a flame retardant in EPS insulation in the EU.

The consortium aim is to obtain an authorisation for the continued safe use of HBCDD in EPS, until a valid alternative is commercially available in adequate quantities, together with the necessary technical and certification approvals. Members want to ensure that their customers and related end users have a continued steady supply for use of flame retarded EPS for building insulation material. The EPS raw material producers are committed to changing from HBCDD to an alternative as soon as possible, within legal deadlines and satisfying technical approvals.File:Hexabromocyclododecane.svg

Sufficient supply of building insulation materials is crucial for the European Union to achieve its goals of energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint by appropriate insulation of new buildings and by renovation of existing buildings. EPS has been used broadly for this application for decades and is present in the vast majority of Europe’s buildings. HBCDD is still the main, commercially available flame retardant for EPS. Flame retardant suppliers have started production of commercial quantities of alternative materials and the first applications in insulation products are being made available in the EU during 2014. Not all announced capacity for the HBCDD alternatives is currently on stream, however, meaning delays in the production development and technical approvals cannot be excluded. Members of the consortium are concerned that fully approved alternative flame retardants may not be available in sufficient commercial quantities before August 2015. Members are asking the EU for additional time to allow for a smooth market transition from HBCDD.

Background: HBCDD in buildings

One of the uses of HBCDD is as a flame retardant in EPS in buildings. HBCDD (CAS# 25637-99-4) is placed on Annex XIV of REACH, indicating that after the sunset date (21 August 2015, Official Journal of the European Union L49/52, dated 24.2.2011) the use of HBCDD in any application is prohibited unless the use in an application is granted. The application for authorisation of HBCDD in a specific use had to be submitted to ECHA at the latest by February 21, 2014.

Consortium members

The eight submitting members of the consortium, set up at the beginning of 2013, are: Ineos Styrenics, Monotez S.A., StyroChem Finland Oy, Sunpor Kunststoff GmbH Austria, Synbra Technology B.V., Synthos S.A, Unipol Holland B.V., Versalis S.p.A. These companies submitted jointly 13 applications for two uses.

Contact Francesca Furlan, ReachCentrum, at ffu@reachcentrum.eu or on +32.2.6767425.

Filed under: Environment, Flame Retardant, News | Comments Off on HBCDD consortium submits REACH authorisation dossier to ECHA

Predicting SBI test results on the basis of cone calorimeter data

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

The most important Euroclass test method for products with a non-negligible contribution to fire is the Single Burning Item (SBI) test. Correlation between the results of the SBI test and the cone calorimeter is an issue of great interest. The cone calorimeter is a well-established and acknowledged test method, and it requires only a small amount of specimen material. Even though the official classification of products in Europe is made on the basis of the SBI test results, the cone calorimeter can be a useful tool for product development and quality control. Several modelling approaches on the prediction of heat release and classification in the SBI test have been published. Many models predict well the performance of untreated wood products in the SBI tests, but fire retardant treated wood has proven problematic in several cases. An application of a model, developed especially for fire retardant treated wood products, is presented below… Read more: click here

Filed under: Magazine | Comments Off on Predicting SBI test results on the basis of cone calorimeter data

Fire Retardants in Plastics 13–14 May 2014

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

13–14 May 2014

Denver, United States

AMI conferences offer delegates the opportunity to meet and network. We develop programs using the skills and contacts from within our own consulting business and choose topics and speakers with great care. More importantly we do not just organize conferences.

AMI makes a major contribution to each conference it organizes. AMI always provides at least one, and sometimes several, keynote presentations at each conference. So you can be sure that when you attend our conferences you will not only hear from industry experts, but also receive essential papers from AMI.

AMI’s Fire Retardants in Plastics conference has rapidly become an essential meeting place for the industry, attracting an international audience made up of leading players from throughout the supply chain.

In addition to high-level presentations, the conference also provided the ideal networking forum to share ideas and discuss new solutions for flame retardant plastics that meet and exceed the performance, environmental and health requirements of the future.

Filed under: Events | Comments Off on Fire Retardants in Plastics 13–14 May 2014

Recycling of waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) into flame-retardant rigid polyurethane foams

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Henri VAHABI

This  paper wes published in Journal of Applied Polymer Science , 3 MAY 2014.

ABSTRACT

Waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) textiles were effectively chemical recycling into flame-retardant rigid polyurethane foams (PUFs). The PET textile wastes were glycolytically depolymerized to bis(2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) by excess ethylene glycol as depolymerizing agent and zinc acetate dihydrate as catalyst. The PUFs were produced from BHET and polymeric methane diphenyl diisocyanate. The structures of BHET and PUFs were identified by FTIR spectra. The limiting oxygen index (LOI) of the PUFs (≥23.27%) was higher than that of common PUFs (16–18%), because the aromatic substituent in the depolymerized products improved the flame retardance. To improve the LOI of the PUFs, dimethyl methylphosphonate doped PUFs (DMMP-PUFs) were produced. The LOI of DMMP-PUFs was approached to 27.69% with the increasing of the doped DMMP. The influences of the flame retardant on the foams density, porosity, and compression properties were studied. Furthermore, the influences of foaming agent, catalyst, and flame retardant on the flame retardation were also investigated.

Filed under: Flame Retardant, Innovation | Comments Off on Recycling of waste poly(ethylene terephthalate) into flame-retardant rigid polyurethane foams

%d bloggers like this: