A REVIEW OF NEW COMPOSITE MATERIALS FOR THERMAL PROTECTION IN AN AERO-ENGINE APPLICATION

Abstract

The paper is aimed at exploring new composite materials for thermal protection in an aero-engine application. Aluminium hybrid composites have been widely used to substitute materials in the aerospace industry because of their high thermal resistance, wear resistance and strength-to-weight ratio. This review article covers standard fire test results of different types of burners and burn-through times of the composites and polymeric materials. The paper evaluates the performance of different structural composite materials including synthetic fibres, natural fibres and some type of coating on the materials in a pool-fire scenario. It also deals with the practical use of flame retardancy and performance factors including safety in an aircraft related to polymer composites. It was found that most of the materials used could only be categorized as fire resistance materials except GLARE materials and synthetic/natural fibre composites and aerogel composites which showed the characteristic of fireproof materials.