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Safety of Structures
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Technical Properties of Polymeric Materials
The share of polymers in the overall use of functional and engineering materials in technical applications is rising constantly, as are the requirements imposed in terms of quality and durability.
Here in the Technical Properties of Polymeric Materials division, we contribute to ensuring that polymeric materials are used safely by means of research, development, consulting, testing and analysis, as well as with the production of reference materials.
We generate data on performance (stability, durability, degradation, fire behaviour), on mechanisms & phenomena (oxidation, hydrolysis, pyrolysis, swelling), and on structure-property relationships under various external conditions (UV exposure, weather exposure, fire). We investigate gas transport properties (permeation, sorption), conduct thermal analyses and spectroscopic studies on ageing and decomposition, and also perform smoke gas analyses and fire simulations. We test the reaction to fire of building materials and the technically relevant properties of elastomers.
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Fields of expertise
- Elastomers: Testing, production, reference materials
- Flame retardancy, flame retardant modes of action, flame retardants
- Room fires: Various fire scenarios, experiments at large scale, numerical CFD simulation
- Flammability, reaction to fire, fire behaviour, fire resistance at the bench scale and intermediate scale
- Reaction to fire of building materials, polymeric materials, material systems
- Thermal analysis, pyrolysis, thermo-oxidation
- Weather exposure, UV exposure, degradation, ageing, hydrolysis
- Gas transport properties: Sorption, diffusion
- Smoke and fire analysis: Bench scale methods, experiments at real scale, smoke gas toxicity
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Main activities
- Elastomer standard reference materials, rubbers
- Innovative flame-retarded polymeric materials (phosphorus-based flame retardants, nanocomposites, coatings, composites)
- Thermal decomposition pathways
- Gas absorption/gas permeability: Fundamental aspects, nanocomposites, high-performance polymers
- Development and enhancement of established measurement methods, bench scale fire tests
- Non-standard tests/key experiments, fire tests at 1:1 scale
- Numerical CFD simulation and validation of vehicle, apartment and building fires
- Smoke gas analysis under different combustion conditions
- Tests, expert appraisals
- National/international committees
- Accelerated/artificial weather exposure, early detection of damage
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Range of services/technical equipment
- Hardness
- Tension/pressure tests
- Tear strength
- Compressive deformation test
- Compressive stress relaxation
- Low temperature brittleness
- Abrasion
- Gas permeability
- DSC/high-pressure DSC
- Thermogravimetric analysis: TG-MS, TG-FTIR
- FTIR, ATR-FTIR, FTIR Linkam hot stage, mobile FTIR, NDIR
- UV/VIS spectrometer, UV/VIS microscope
- Chemiluminescence
- Pyrolysis combustion flow calorimeter (PCFC) or microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC)
- Bomb calorimeter
- Non-combustibility furnace; ISO furnace
- UL 94 burning chamber
- Oxygen index
- Glow wire test
- FMVSS_302
- Burning chamber: B2; B, C, D, E
- Smoke density chamber
- Cone calorimeter
- Brandschacht: B1
- Flooring radiant panel test apparatus
- Single burning item (SBI)
- Ozone resistance
- Accelerated/artificial weathering tests
- Spectral irradiance
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Publications of the division
