Sepiolite/Silicone Sealants for Shipbuilding

Enhancement of fire behavior indeed represents a challenging issue for many materials and particularly for polymers. In this work, the fire performance of a commercial silicone sealant commonly used in shipbuilding industry was investigated. The effects of inorganic fillers were studied by thermo-gravimetry analysis (TGA) and micro-calorimetry (MCC). The use of these techniques, TGA and MCC, allowed for the creation of small batch of materials and corresponding formulation as compared to the kilogram sample needed for cone calorimeter testing. Results shown slightly variation of the total heat released rate and corresponding peak temperature, while a significant change in specific heat release capacity measured for the highest sepiolite percentage, degradation and flammability behavior due to the inorganic content.