Adhesion Capabilities of Permanent Foaming Fixatives for Deactivation and Decommissioning Activities - 20308
Florida International University's Applied Research Center and the Department of Energy's Savannah River National Laboratory are examining various mechanical properties of intumescent rigid polyurethane foams in order to be used as a permanent foaming fixative. Intumescent polyurethane foams are favored more than non-intumescent polyurethane foams due to their ability to mitigate flame and smoke propagation when exposed to a fire. As a consequence, this ability, known as intumescing, will allow fire personnel ample time to arrive at a scene. Due to sites being dormant for many decades before the final decontamination stages, the likelihood of a fire remains high. Adhesion properties will ensure quality immobilization performance. The analysis consisted of evaluating tensile adhesion strengths on a variety of commercial-off-the-shelf polyurethane (PU) foams. The foams consisted of intumescent and a combination of flexible and rigid foams. The goal was to down select the rigid foams out of the group in terms of tensile adhesion performance. The ensuing analysis was to conduct shear adhesion testing on the rigid foams in an operational volume with one of the rigid foams being intumescent. This approach helped down select the intumescent rigid foam in an adhesion and operational sense. (authors)