Investigation of the flame properties and fire behavior of carbon-reinforced PEKK, BMI and phenolic composites impacted by Jet-A1/air flames

This paper provides an experimental investigation of a kerosene/air burner (the NexGen burner designed on the FAA's proposed ISO 2685 standard), which is used to generate flame/burnt gases impinging on material samples in the field of fire safety. The purpose of this study is to characterize this burner, and experimental means are implemented to better understand the effects of the equivalence ratio on the spatial distribution of the gas temperature (thermocouples), the heat flux (heat flux gauge), and gas emission species. Hence, the measured flame temperature, heat flux, and heat release rate increase up to a critical value of equivalence ratio equal to 1.03. Furthermore, a pyrolysis test was carried out on composite materials and the results of the comparative analysis of carbon-phenolic, carbon-BMI, and carbon-PEKK materials show that carbon-PEKK had the lowest mass loss, highest back-face temperature without significant material delamination, and the lowest concentration of gas emission species.