Composite Material Fire Safety Training Course

Consortium develops program to train firefighters in safe and effective methods for combating composite materials fires.

August 1, 2006

AFRL scientists and engineers, working cooperatively with experts from academia and the firefighting community, have developed a Composite Material Fire Safety training program designed to improve the safety and effectiveness of Air Force, Department of Defense (DoD), and civilian firefighters. The team created the program to educate firefighters on the methodologies they need to rapidly and safely extinguish composite materials fires.

Composite materials are a physical combination of two or more materials, generally consisting of a reinforcement material and a "binder," or matrix, material. The reinforcements, or load-bearing elements, are usually fibers; a resin binder serves to hold the fibers and fill the voids. The reinforced matrix structure thereby enables fiber-to-fiber stress transfer. Manufacturers create composite materials from several laminate layers with varying fiber orientations. In many cases, they also sandwich a honeycomb-like core material between these laminate layers. Composite materials are extremely common in aerospace applications (see Figure 1) where a high strength-to-weight ratio is a necessity. Composites are not only prevalent in the aviation industry, but are also present in a broad range of commercial products, since designers can tailor their characteristics to customize component performance.

Figure 1. The F-22A Raptor is one of several aircraft manufactured with advanced composite materials.

Emerging fire safety issues related to composite materials prompted creation of the Composite Fire Safety Initiative, a program dedicated to building awareness of composite materials combustion processes and providing firefighters with the methodologies and technologies needed for safely extinguishing composite materials fires. At the 2002 Composite Fire Safety Initiative meeting in Washington DC, fire safety experts discussed the increased use of composites in DoD and civilian technologies. One key discussion addressed the need to provide firefighters with proper support and training.

Accordingly, a team of experts from AFRL's Airbase Technologies Division, in partnership with the University of Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute, the University of Delaware, and the Naval Air Systems Command, received funding from the Strengthening the Mid-Atlantic Region for Tomorrow (SMART) congressional caucus to develop a Composite Material Fire Safety training program. SMART, a collaboration between federal and state government and science and technology leaders, exists to serve the science and technology community in the US mid- Atlantic region. AFRL's Airbase Technologies Division conducts exploratory and advanced research in fire suppression and crash/rescue technologies to counter new and evolving threats. In the past, this group has been instrumental in developing fire-retardant materials and fire suppression methods, mitigating the effects of large-scale explosions, and integrating firefighter technology development programs.

Figure 2. Portion of a composite wing after a fire. The wiring is part of the test instrumentation.

The collaborative team assembled a core group to develop a comprehensive training curriculum. The completed program, which the team demonstrated in January 2005, provides firefighters with a better understanding of composite materials, including their construction, use, and most likely locations within both products and facilities. Students have the opportunity to evaluate what happens when composite materials burn (see Figure 2) and assess the dangers faced by firefighters during an actual emergency situation. In addition, they review firefighting tactics and learn what chemical agents and applications are most effective in combating fires involving composites. Students may also receive refresher training on hazardous material response and mitigation, along with corresponding decontamination procedures.

Fire safety experts expect the overall program—which stresses the importance of handling composite materials incidents with caution, the proper use of personal protective equipment, and the proper decontamination of responders—to reduce the number of firefighter injuries arising from complications encountered in fighting composite materials fires. More than 10,000 DoD firefighters and first responders will have access to the training, and hundreds of thousands of civilian firefighters stand to benefit from the program as well.

Mr. Virgil J. Carr, Ms. Jennifer Kiel, and Mr. Tim Anderl (Anteon Corporation), of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, wrote this article. For more information, contact TECH CONNECT at (800) 203-6451 or place a request at http://www.afrl.af.mil/techconn_index.asp . Reference document ML-H-05-13.