Fire Behavior of bio-sourced composites under Varied Heat Flux Levels

This study aims to enhance the understanding of the fire behavior of bio-sourced composite materials for potential applications in aeronautics and automobiles.Experimental tests were conducted using the NexGen burner, designed according to FAA requirements for fire certification, and a cone calorimeter to assess medium-scale fire behavior.The research also focused on developing flax and banana-reinforced Greenpoxy composite materials, addressing concerns related to the non-biodegradable nature of synthetic composites and global warming.The green biocomposites manufactured through the Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) method, underwent thermal-physical characterization.Thermal degradation studies involved three heat flow densities (20, 35, and 50 kW/m²), analyzing fire performance indices, mass loss, surface temperatures, and gaseous emissions.The results revealed that biocomposites exhibited distinct thermo-physical behavior on medium and large scales, with flax-based materials showing superior thermal properties on a medium scale and banana-based materials demonstrating the opposite but interesting trend on a large scale.The study highlighted the size-dependent nature of bio-sourced material thermal properties.This research contributes valuable insights into the fire performance of bio-sourced composites, addressing critical aspects of materials.