Abstract
The recent attention being given to blast mitigation research by government, industry and academia implies the need for flammability resistance studies of nanocomposite foams. Fire and smoke toxicity are typically associated with blasts, and some of the current designs for blast mitigation involve the use of nanocomposites and foams. The Center for Nanocomposites and Multi functional Materials [CNCMM] employs a nanocomposite foam impregnated honeycomb as core for its energy dissipative designs. Preliminary results indicate that other than the enhancement of mechanical properties, well formulated nanocomposite foams provide improvement in flammability resistance. In this study, flammability resistance properties of syntactic nanocomposite foams are evaluated by cone calorimetry via such parameters as smoke density, mean heat release rate (MHRR), mass loss rate (MLR) and ignition time.