Protection against flames, fire and explosion

We offer a comprehensive range of research and development services for protection against flames, fire and explosion.

Synthesis of flame retardants

Stricter flame retardancy requirements, combined with technical or economic constraints, sometimes necessitate the development of new flame retardant systems. At Fraunhofer ICT we have many years of experience in the field of molecular design and the chemical optimization of molecular structures with high flame retardancy, as well as in the technical implementation of additive synthesis and upscaling to the kg scale. With our know-how and cutting-edge infrastructure we are able to transfer the latest research findings on flame retardant systems into applications, and evaluate them in industrial processes.

Flame-retardant polymers

For applications in building materials or in the mobility industry - e.g. in vehicles, aircraft, trains or cable cars - we develop and produce polymer compounds suitable for various plastics processing methods such as compression molding, injection molding, foaming or pultrusion.

Product qualification of flame-retardant materials

We offer comprehensive flame protection tests and material tests in accordance with current standards and norms. In addition, we develop test procedures addressing customer-specific issues, in order to qualify new products or to clarify the source of error and the effect mechanisms in the event of product failure.

Product development and simulative evaluation

We have significant expertise in the development of specific materials for mobility concepts, from conventional drive systems through to electric and hydrogen-based mobility. We develop lightweight, safe solutions with integrated functions, which meet requirements for high energy and power densities as well as safety. We establish digital twins for the simulative evaluation of application potentials and the definition of operating strategies.

Fire-retardant coatings

We develop and test fire-retardant coatings, high-temperature insulation materials, fire-protective fillers and ceramizing elastomers for military and civil applications.

Large-scale fire tests and explosion incidents

To ensure the technical safety of production plants and systems, we study the chemical-physical behavior of flames and explosions, and carry out extensive product- or customer-specific risk assessments and tests on complete systems. We simulate fire incidents in large-scale fire tests, as well as explosion incidents. We also evaluate fire protection concepts and extinguishing techniques.

Simulations to determine hazard potential

We carry out simulations to determine the hazard potential in the design and construction of test environments. To this end we collect fire and explosion data from hydrogen to metal.