BIRECO - Fire-safe bio-resin composites for sustainable lightweight structures

当轻型纤维增强聚合物复合材料用于火灾敏感应用时，例如飞机内部，地下列车或石油钻井平台，最先进的解决方案是使用酚醛（也称为酚甲醛）树脂系统。在火灾条件下，酚醛树脂形成稳定的表面炭，抑制可燃性挥发物的产生，并提供保护性防火屏障涂层。然而，酚醛基复合材料也不是没有妥协，特别是在健康和安全方面（甲醛是有毒的，是一种已知的人类致癌物）和可持续性（考虑到它们的石化基础）。作为酚醛基复合材料的直接替代品，NetComposites开发了一种使用100%生物基聚糠醇（PFA）树脂体系的预浸渍（prepreg）复合材料。与酚醛树脂相比，PFA树脂具有显著的优势-它们无毒，不含挥发性有机化合物，并且可持续地从废弃的农业生物质中提取。此外，重要的是，与酚醛树脂相比，PFA树脂在提供这些优点的同时，在基本机械性能、防火性能、可加工性或成本方面没有任何妥协。迄今为止，NetComposites公司已经生产了使用单一PFA树脂配方和有限范围的增强纤维类型（主要是玻璃，一些碳，一些亚麻）的材料。来自潜在最终用户的初步反馈非常令人鼓舞，但也强调了进一步发展的需求和机会。还需要制定强有力的市场进入战略，并辅以最终用户抽样，以确保以最有效的方式针对正在进行的发展。最后，有必要进行有代表性的生产试验，以证明pfa基复合材料的规模化制造。

When lightweight fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials are used in fire-sensitive applications, such as aircraft interiors, underground trains or oil rigs, the state of the art solution is to use phenolic (also known as phenol formaldehyde) resin systems. Under fire conditions, phenolic resins form a stable surface char that inhibits the yield of flammable volatiles and provides a protective fire barrier coating. However, phenolic matrix compositesare not without their compromises, particularly in terms of health and safety (formaldehyde is toxic and a known human carcinogen) and sustainability (given their petrochemical basis).As a direct substitute for phenolic matrix composites, NetComposites has developed a preimpregnated (“prepreg”) composite material using a 100% bio-based polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) resin system. Compared to phenolic resins, PFA resins offer significant advantages- they are non-toxic, free of volatile organic compounds and sustainably-derived from waste agricultural biomass. Furthermore, and importantly, PFA resins provide these benefits withoutany compromises in terms of basic mechanical performance, fire performance, processability or cost compared to phenolics.To date, NetComposites has produced materials using a single PFA resin formulation and a limited range of reinforcing fibre types (mainly glass, some carbon, some flax). Initial feedback from potential end-users has been extremely encouraging, but has also highlighted further development requirements and opportunities. There is also a need to develop robustmarket entry strategies, complemented by end-user sampling, to ensure that the ongoing developments are targeted in the most effective way. Finally, it will be necessary to undertake representative production trials to demonstrate the upscaled manufacturing of the PFA-based composite materials.