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Center for Flame Retardant Material Science

Our Mission and Objectives

This virtual center is a collaboration between the University of Dayton's Department of Chemistry and the University of Dayton Research Institute's (UDRI) Power and Energy Division, and the University of Dayton’s Departments of Chemical and Material Engineering and Civil Engineering.

Our focus is on advancing basic and applied chemical and material sciences to deliver new and improved fire safe solutions for society and industry in the Greater Dayton community and beyond. With a combined fifty of experience, we provide practical solutions to fire safety problems by working with academic, government and industrial partners in the U.S. and abroad.

Our Capabilities

Elias Toubia, School of Engineering

STATIC TEST MACHINES
  • MTS Torsion tester – up to 10,000 lbf-in (1130 N-m)
  • MTS Load frame – up to 67,000 lbf (298 kN) in compression/tension
  • Forney Servo-hydraulic compression station – 5,000 lbf (22.2 kN) to 500,000 lbf (2224 kN) capacity
INSTRUMENTATION AND SUPPORT EQUIPMENT
  • CRP Panel Heater by Omega -4.5Kw, 0.3 x 0.3 m (12 x 12") Modular Panels
  • Qualitest environmental chamber – -22° to 104°F (-30 to 40°C), interior space of 20”x26”x57” (51cm x 65cm x 146cm)
  • High Accuracy Data Logger Dual Input, Handheld Thermometer with RS232C Interface and Software ( Part # HH506RA)
  • Forney Cur-O-Matic Curing Box - holds 23 6"x12" (15cm x 30cm) concrete cylinders
  • Adam Scale – up to 300 lbf (1.3 kN) in increments of 0.005 lbf (0.02N)
  • Vishay MicroMeasurements strain gauge recorder – up to four input channels
  • Vishay MicroMeasurements strain gauge scanner – up to 1200 inputs for strain gauges or strain gauge-based transducers, thermocouples, and sensors
  • Shuttle Xpc 2D digital image correlation system
  • DolphiCam Expert – non-destructive acoustic camera for damage assessment

Vladimir Benin, College of Arts and Sciences

LAB

Synthesis lab (SC 418) furnished with standard equipment for the preparation and purification of small molecules and polymers

INSTRUMENTATION

Full access to all major instrumentation within and beyond the Department of Chemistry (Multinuclear NMR, GC-MS, several IR, UV-VIS and fluorescence instruments, single-crystal X-ray instrument, Linux-operated QuantumCube QS16-2500C-X64Q Parallel Cluster) 


Alexander B. Morgan, University of Dayton Research Institute

UDRI offers over 26 years of experience in flame retardant research and fire safety for all materials (wood, plastic, composites, aircraft materials metals, etc.) in all fire risk scenarios. We can deliver practical solutions to industrial, government, and academic customers. We specialize in flame retardant and fire protection solutions that meet regulatory tests for just about all applications and materials in use today, including wildland fire and electric vehicle (lithium ion battery) fire protection. Research also covers combustion and emissions research of burning plastics for energy recovery and development of more sustainable fire safety solutions.

Research projects with UDRI in this area can simply involve fire testing, or can include product development and design. We also offer literature searches and analysis for patent and proposal writing that take advantage of an extensive intelligent database of fire safety, fire science, and flame retardancy papers. We can also provide consulting services for meeting regulatory tests, troubleshooting, and product development. With all projects, the customer owns all of the data and intellectual property unless UDRI is bringing existing technology to the project that requires licensing.

Our current research in fire safety science serves industry, academia, and government customers, both in the United States and overseas. The Fire Safety Science Laboratory (FSSL) holds all of our test equipment, and the Quality Management System of the Fire Safety Science Laboratory is certified to ISO 9001:2015 (Eagle Certification Group, Cert No. 5587). 

Capabilities

  • Cone Calorimeter
  • Micro Combustion Calorimeter (with ability to test under Argon and elevated oxygen levels)
  • UL-94 Test Station
  • Horizontal Flammability Tester
  • Vertical Flammability Tester
  • Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter
  • FAA Multi-Tester (Horizontal, Vertical, 45 degree tests)

Learn more

Donald Klosterman, School of Engineering

POLYMER / COMPOSITES PROCESSING
  • Wet laboratory facility, fume hoods, glove box, chemical storage, etc.
  • Composites wet lay-up and vacuum bagging space
  • Autocalve: ASC Econoclave (2 ft. x 4 ft., 800°F/427°C, 200 psi)
  • Press: Wabash G75H-18-CX (15 in. x 15 in. platens, 150,000 lbs. force, 1000°F/538°C)
  • Oven curing: Blue M / TPS (23.6 in. x 19.6 in. x 29.5 in. high, 500°F/260°C)
  • VARTM cell: 2 ft. x 3 ft. table, vacuum pump, catch pot, resin degas chamber, vacuum bag supplies, etc.
  • Tube furnaces: Lindberg Blue M (2730°F/1500°C, appox. 24 inches long), Lindberg Blue M (2000°F/1100°C, approx. 30 in. long)
  • Wet saws for cutting composites
  • Additive Manufacturing: Fortus 400 MC (plastic filaments), 3D Touch (plastic filaments), Concept Laser MLab cusing R (powder metals)
CHARACTERIZATION
  • TGA: TA Instruments Q500 (25-1000°C)
  • TMA: TA Instruments Q400 (-150-1000°C)
  • DSC: TA Instruments Q2000 (-90-550°C)
  • DMA: TA Instruments Q800 (-145-600°C)
  • Rheometer: Anton Paar parallel plate rheometer MCR 302 (-150-450°C)
  • FTIR: Thermo Scientific iS50 with ATR cell
  • GPC: Viscotek with various detectors (RI, UV/Vis, dual detector)
  • Raman: Renishaw inVia Raman microscope
  • X-ray: Rigaku Smart Lab X-ray Diffractometer
  • SEM: ProX Phenom table-top SEM
  • Optical microcroscopy: Zeiss AX10 (50X, 100X, 200X, 500X, 1000X)
  • Metallography: Buehler Automet / Ecomet 250 rotary grinding and polishing unit
  • Various scales, and density / buoyancy fixture (ASTM D792)
  • Mechanical testing: Instron 5985 load frame with various fixtures (tensile 30,000 lbs., compression, flexure, short beam shear, compression after impact), two load cells (56,000 lbs., 1124 lbs.), extensometers (25 mm, 50 mm), bonded strain gages, and alignment fixture with AlignPro software.

CONTACT

Center for Flame Retardant Material Science


300 College Park
Dayton, Ohio 45469
Email