STRUCTURAL PANEL

PANNEAU DE CHARPENTE

English Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
STRUCTURAL PANEL
A structural panel having a core of a phenolic foam plastics
material surrounded by a woven fibre cloth impregnated with a phenolic
resin. In the case of large panels, internal stiffeners may be used
to improve the structural rigidity. Also the panels may have an
armour layer to give the panel bullet and fire resisting properties.
The armour layer may be external or internal to the panel and may be
for example an alumina or a ceramic tile.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A structural panel comprising a phenolic foam plastics
material and a woven fibre cloth impregnated with a phenolic
resin, the cloth surrounding the major part of the surface
of the phenolic foam plastics material.
2. A structural panel according to claim 1 in which the
woven fibre cloth is fibre glass.
3. A structural panel according to claim 1 or claim 2 in
which a plurality of layers of the woven fibre cloth and
resin are laid up and placed together to form a laminate.
4. A structural panel according to claim 1 comprising a
layer of mineral wool or a combination of mineral wool and
foam.
5. A structural panel according to claim 1 having internal
stiffners so as to increase the rigidity of the panel.
6. A structural panel according to claim 5 in which the
internal stiffeners are in a staggered arrangement.
7. A structural panel according to claim 1 having an
internal or external layer of an armour.
8. A structural panel according to claim 7 in which the
armour comprises alumina or ceramic tiles.

Description

I
Casey
STRUCTURAL PANEL
The present invention relates to a structural panel and more
particularly relates to fire resisting structural panels.
It it important that offshore structures such as drilling rigs
eta have a high resistance to fire. The usual type of structures
used in marine fields e.g. boat hulls, are fabricated from composite
materials e.g. resin/fibre glass which are not in general fire
resisting.
The present invention relates to an improved structural panel
which is lightweight corrosion resistant, and has good fire
resisting properties.
Thus according to the present invention there is provided a
structural panel comprising a core of a finlike foam plastics
material surrounded by a woven fire cloth impregnated with a
finlike resin.
In the case of large panels, internal stiffeners may be used to
improve the structural rigidity.
Also the panels may have an Armour layer to give the panel
bullet and fire resisting properties. The Armour layer may be
external or internal to the panel and may be for example an alumina
or a ceramic tile.
The woven fire cloth is preferably fire glass and is
impregnated with a finlike resin. Preferably a plurality ox layers
of woven fire cloth and resin are laid up and placed together to
form a laminate.
In the preferred use, a finlike foam is used for the core and
Jo
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a finlike resin is used with the woven fire cloth so as
to produce a structural panel which, under conditions of
fire, has low smoke emission and reduced toxic combustion
products in comparison to say structural panels produced
from polyurethane foams and epoxy or polyester resins.
The woven fire cloth is preferably made from woven
glass fire. A structural panel formed from the woven
product tends to have greater strength and stiffness than
a panel formed from the chopped fire product and is useful
for protective Armour applications where high resistance
to ballistic projectiles is required.
In insulation applications, it is preferred to incur-
prorate a layer of mineral wool or a combination of a
mineral wool or foam into the structural panel.
Structural panels according to the invention may be used
in varying sizes for fire wall installations on oil rigs,
fire doors for oil rigs, chemical plant, factories end any
other situation requiring fire protection.
Some typical dimensions or a structural panel are a
thickness of the order of 25-50 mm and a panel size of 1
moire by 2 metros.
The invention will now be described by way of example
only and with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying
drawings, which show vertical cross sections of part of
the structural panels.
In use a portion of glass cloth ("~arglass" (trade mark)
M226 woven roving fabric) is impregnated with finlike resin
(J22005 - BY Chemicals) by dipping in a bath. The solvents
in the resin are then allowed to evaporate and the cloth
is heated at 100C to obtain a tacky surface. The rosin
impregnated cloth is then cut to shape and the desired
number of laminations are laid up and placed together. A
similar shaped piece of finlike foam ("Colophon" (trade
mark) Kooltherm Limited) is positioned against the laminates
and a second layer of laminates are laid on top of the foam
to produce a sandwich structure The sandwich structure is

I
then cured for about 60 minutes at 150C under 15 psi
pressure. If necessary, stiffeners can be inserted into the
foam and cloth during the process. It is desirable to
stagcJer -the internal stiffness relative to each other so
as to reduce heat transfer. Figure 1 shows a cross section
through a structural panel 1 in which stiffeners 2 are
incorporated.
If required, for instance an application where thermal
insulation is required, outer skins 3 of resin cloth may
be used to sandwich a central core of foam with an
intermediate layer of mineral wool 6 or mineral wool and
foam between the foam 4 and skins 3. A cross section through
a structural panel having this configuration is shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 3 shows a cross section through a bullet and
fire resisting panel comprising a central layer 7 of
ceramic tiles or alumina surrounded by a core of finlike
foam and having an outer layer 9 of glass rove cloth and
finlike resin.