Automotive fire safety

Machiele, P.A., Summary of the Fire Safety Impacts of Methanol as a Transportation Fuel, SAE Paper No. 901113 Society of Automotive Engineers 400 Commonwealth Drive Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15096-0001 Phone 412-776-4841... 

Battipaglia, K., Huczek, J., Janssens, M., and Miller, M., Development of a method to assess the fire hazard of automotive materials, in Proceedings of the Interflam 04, 10th International Fire Safety Conference, July 5-7, Edinburgh, U.K., Interscience Communications, U.K., pp. 1587-1596, 2004. 

The resulting poly(oxy-1,4-phenylene sulfonyl-1,4-phenylene) (PES), CAS 25667-42-9, is a valuable polymer used to make various household appliances, medical devices, automotive parts, etc. The polymer can be shaped by thermoforming and is used in various composite materials. It has good fire safety characteristics and meets the requirements for direct food contact. Other polyethersulfones with structures similar to PES also have important practical applications and are used for the manufacturing of different appliances, cookware, automotive and aerospace components, etc. 

Further expansion of the use of high-volume polymeric materials, such as PP, in engineering applications (automotive, home appliances, mass transportation vehicles, and construction industries) is dependent on the ability to enhance both their stiffness and toughness. Fire safety concerns bring about an additional requirement of reduced flammability, especially for those used in the mass transport and construction industries. This extends the requirements put on the properties of an interphase. 

Motor vehicles Most of the passenger car interiors including car seats are made of polyester fiber (90% of the world market), and in some cases polypropylene fiber. The flammability testing of fabrics used in motor vehicles, in particular, cars are not mandatory due to the fact that fire incidents in motor vehicles are rare and, moreover, fire spreads relatively slowly. Most manufacturers test seating covers and carpets conform to the U.S. FMVSS (Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard) 302 test, which is a simple horizontal flame spread test. Other similar standards are German DIN 75 200, British, Australian BS AU 169, and Japanese JIS D 1201 automotive standards. The curtains and blinds are tested according to tests specific to them discussed earlier. 

Alpha Packaging Films [3] developed a flame retardant door liner for the automotive industry, which they claim, may meet safety standards and may have a host of other applications. Their product is a non-flammable polyethylene film, known as fire-retardant grade, which avoids the potential hazard of giving off toxic fumes in the event of a fire. 

They can be used for soldiers and personal support of them in the battlefield, space programs, protective textiles and public safety (fire-fighting, law enforcement), automotive, exposure-indicating textiles, etc. 

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