Fly ash/ripoxy composite: Inflammability on horizontal and surface burning

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of the volume fraction of fly ash (FA) particle on the inflammability (burning rate and surface burning) of the FA-ripoxy resin composite. FA was sieved for particle size ≤75 µm (pass mesh 200). Then, it was heated in an oven at 105°C for 45 minutes. Finally, the FA powder was mixed with ripoxy resin varied in FA content for 0-50% (v/v). The composite was produced by hand lay-up method using a press molding. All composite samples were post-cured in an oven at 80°C for 120 minutes. The inflammability test of the samples was conducted using a burning test apparatus based on the standard of ASTM D-635 for burning rate test and ASTM D-5048 for surface burning test. The data obtained in burning rate test were time to ignition (TTI) and rate of burning (ROB). The data obtained in surface burning test were burn trough and size of convex of samples. The result shows that the addition of FA improves the inflammability of the FA-ripoxy composite indicated by the increasing in TTI and the decreasing of ROB. For the surface burning, the addition FA decreases the decomposition of FA-ripoxy composite indicated by the decrease in the height and n the diameter of convex.