Modelling Behaviour of a Carbon Epoxy Composite Exposed to Fire: Part I—Characterisation of Thermophysical Properties

Thermophysical properties of a carbon-reinforced epoxy composite laminate (T700/M21 composite for aircraft structures) were evaluated using different innovative characterisation methods. Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Simultaneous Thermal analysis (STA), Laser Flash analysis (LFA), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis were used for measuring the thermal decomposition, the specific heat capacity, the anisotropic thermal conductivity of the composite, the heats of decomposition and the specific heat capacity of released gases. It permits to get input data to feed a three-dimensional (3D) model given the temperature profile and the mass loss obtained during well-defined fire scenarios (model presented in Part II of this paper). The measurements were optimised to get accurate data. The data also permit to create a public database on an aeronautical carbon fibre/epoxy composite for fire safety engineering.