JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World - o - 13

construction & public transport NEWS

Research and development of sustainable,
fire-resistant composites
Pyros is an EU-funded collaborative project that started in March 2016 and will
be completed in December 2017. Spain-based Aitex and Aimplas are taking
part in this programme, which aims at developing sustainable, fire-resistant
materials.

he composite materials
industry has experienced
dramatic growth in recent years due to the creation
of high-strength fibres, the development of new polymer materials, and enhanced and optimised manufacturing processes.
The growing output of these
ground-breaking materials has
been driven by the aerospace,
aeronautics, transport and construction industries, and the materials themselves have proven
to possess far superior performance than conventional materials in many applications.
The opportunity to develop
composites using renewable raw
materials, for both the polymer
matrix and the reinforcing textile structure, is one of the main
vectors of activity considered
within the framework of the
Pyros project. In addition, work

Pyros is an EU-funded collaborative project

will also be carried out into the
flame retardant properties conferred on the polymer and the
textile structure through the incorporation of flame-retardant
additives and fireproof finishes
typically used in the textile industry.
Objectives
The primary objective of the
Pyros project is to research and
develop sustainable, fire-resistant composites for technical applications in the construction
and public transport sectors.
Sustainable materials will be
used as alternatives for all the
types of materials to be used during the project, including thermoplastic and heat-stable polymers and natural-fibre textiles,
in order to enable the development of environmentally-friendly composite materials.
To achieve the overall objective
of the project, the research work

will focus on the development of
technical solutions including:
- Research and development of
sustainable, fire-resistant thermoplastic composites.
- Research and developmentof
sustainable, fire-resistant heatstable composites.
- Production of scale-model
demonstrators using the sustainable composites developed under the project, which
will be designed for use in the
construction and public-transport sectors.
Expected results
The primary objective of the research carried out during the
Pyros project is to produce a
range of fire-resistant composite
materials with applications in the
manufacture of materials for the
construction and public transport sectors. During the project,
work will be undertaken to develop, validate and evaluate the
following material types:
- Fireproof yarns spun with
fire-resistant (FR) additives.
- FR thermoplastic films.
- FR heat-stable resins.
- Natural fibre yarns and fabrics
with FR finishing.
- Hybrid yarns spun from polyNo111 March 2017

mers and FR natural fibres.
- Hybrid fabrics woven with the
resulting hybrid yarns.
- Optimised FR thermoplastic
composites for validation purposes. The results of these trials will then be employed to
produce a range of demonstrators for the relevant fields of
application.
- Optimised FR heat-stable
composites for validation purposes. The results of these trials will then be employed to
produce a range of demonstrators for the relevant fields of
application.
The Pyros project is a proposal
to provide sustainable development for the business and industrial fabric of the Autonomous
Region of Valencia. The possibility of manufacturing components from sustainable composite materials brings with it a
wide-ranging and complicated
set of research, development and
validation tasks on the part of
Aitex, which the Institute views
as a technological challenge, but
one with ample opportunities for
achieving successful results that
are easily transferrable to the industrial community.
More information:
www.aitex.es

/ jec composites magazine

http://www.aitex.es

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #111 - March 2017 - Special JEC World - o