Flammability behavior of fiber–fiber hybrid fabrics and composites

The effect of heat flux levels on burning behavior and heat transmission properties of hybrid fabrics and composites has been investigated using cone calorimeter and heat transmission techniques. The hybrid fabric structures woven out of E-glass (warp) and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) (weft) and E-glass (warp) and polyester (weft) have been studied at high heat flux levels keeping in view the flame retardant requirements of structural composites. The performance of the glass–PEEK fabric even at high heat flux levels of 75 kW/m2 was comparable with the performance of glass–polyester fabric evaluated at 50 kW/m2. The results further demonstrate that glass–PEEK hybrid fabrics exhibit low peak heat release rate, low heat release rate, low heat of combustion, suggesting an excellent combination of materials and fall under the low-risk category and are comparable with the performance of carbon fiber-epoxy-based systems. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011