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Flammability of Advanced Aircraft Seat Materials
 A major safety hazard in an on-board
aircraft fire is the seat materials: both the fabric upholstery and the foam. R&D on polymer flammability has been going on for many years to develop materials with a low potential
for ignition, fire spread and the generation of smoke and toxic combustion products. Major advancements have included brominating conventional materials to make them fire resistant as well as the
development of thermally stable polymers (such as phenolics, polyimides, polysulfone, PEEK, and polyphenylenesulfide).
In a seminal study, BlazeTech's founder concluded that direct replace- ment of commercial fire-resistant materials with these "advanced" thermally stable materials
cannot be contemplated in the immediate future because of the cost and inadequate mechanical performance of the latter (cf. Materials for Fire Resistant
Passenger Seats in Aircraft, by G.C. Tesoro and N.A. Moussa, J. of Consumer Product Flammability, Dec. 1977, pp. 201-616). Instead, he recommended judicious selection of
state-of-the-art fire-resistant materials, and the innovative use of a heat barrier between fabric and foam. Such a barrier is now a common practice in the airline industry along with fire-resistant materials.
 BlazeTech provides consulting and testing services in both the physical and chemical aspects of material flammability. We even have the ability to model gas phase
kinetics of halogen- dominated mech- anisms typical of fire supres- sion environ- ments. Our past experience with detailed inorganic halogen chemistry is state-of-the-art.
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