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Technical Fibre Products (TFP; Burneside, U.K) is featuring its lightweight basalt veil designed for high-temperature performance in composites, and highlighting new developments with its range of TECNOFIRE fire protection materials.

Part of TFP’s Optiveil range, the basalt veil is said to have been developed as a more temperature-stable alternative to TFP’s standard E & ECR glass veils. TFP says the veil is stable up to 850°C, and retains its integrity when in contact with an open flame, making it suitable for applications requiring a fire barrier. Basalt, like glass, also has a high resistance to acid and alkali, which makes it ideal for use in corrosive environments.

The material also offers the uniformity and surface quality synonymous with TFP’s OPTIVEIL and OPTIMAT ranges, which include carbon, glass, metal-coated, aramid, recycled carbon and thermoplastic nonwovens. The company said this quality of dispersion makes the materials suitable for a wide range of composite applications including surface finish, improving resin flow, adhesive carriers and imparting functionality where required. 

TFP additionally highlights its TECNOFIRE range of lightweight intumescent fire protection materials. The materials are said to work by expanding up to 35 times their original thickness when exposed to heat, protecting the underlying structure from heat energy. The range is used extensively
in a broad range of applications and has been specified for use in bridges, fire doors, buses, trains, trams and structural panels following successful fire testing. TFP further offer specially developed resin-infusible grades for incorporation at the surface of a composite to provide effective
fire protection where it is required, without compromising structural integrity. TFP points to its E20MI Mat as an example, which has recently demonstrated that it can be used with a non-fire, smoke and toxic fume performance rated prepreg to produce a composite structure that passes fire tests which are part of the EN45545 standard with a HL2 R1 rating, a key criteria for rail components.