Fireproof Fabrics for Handheld Device - Lightweight Materials

[ehilge]

Without going into to many details, I'm in need of a lightweight material that can act as a flame shield. Said material needs to be lightweight because the application is for a handheld device. I'm looking at a couple square feet of material. It will need to withstand a direct propane flame (my guess is 700-800 degF, haven't done temperature measurements on this burner) for upwards of a half hour at a time. Is there any sort of fabric that can withstand that sort of situation. I imagine even though kevlar is fire resistant, it will start to break down after significant duration. Is there any sort of metal-strand fabric that might work for my application. Or is my best bet going to be just to stick with a solid metal plate?

Thanks!

 

[Vadar2012]

Kevlar does degrade fast when exposed to heat for long periods of time. Your best and cheapest bet is just to use a nice thick metal plate.

 

[ehilge]

Your best and cheapest bet is just to use a nice thick metal plate.

A big metal plate would be nice, but this is going to be a portable application, so weight is a consideration. I was hoping to find something a bit lighter than a thick metal plate.

 

[xxChrisxx]

ceramic

 

[ehilge]

Any suggestions as to what might be a good ceramic that's not too brittle and reasonably easy to machine? The application of this thing is actually in a agriculture believe it or not, so there's a decent chance it'll get used and abused so I'd like to avoid fragility if possible.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

What exactly is the application where this fabric has to put up with direct flame for half an hour? And why does it have to be portable?

 

[ehilge]

I suppose I just should have explained this to begin with. The project relates to propane weed flaming. See http://cropwatch.unl.edu/web/cropwatch/archive?articleID=4963643 for some background info. We are trying to take the shrink tractor mounted rigs you see in the pictures down to a single row handheld unit. In the picture on the top left of that page, you can see flame hoods hanging on the back. The purpose of those is to keep the heat close to the ground to provide more effective treatment. They're basically big steel plates, which is just fine if you have a tractor. But we need something you can carry around. The plates wouldn't need to be as large because our torch is also smaller, but weight is still a major consideration.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Well based on what you're saying it sounds like you're going to need something like this, assuming the flame temperature of 2600*F in your link:

http://www.hightemperaturefabric.com/silica-high-temperature-heat-flame-fire-resistant-fabric.html

This extreme high temperature, heat and flame resistant fabric is used for equipment protection, welding curtains and blankets.

Or this:

http://www.hightemperaturefabric.com/ceramic-fiber-high-temperature-heat-flame-fire-resistant-fabric.html

Ceramic Fiber Extreme High Temperature Fabric is an excellent replacement to asbestos. Light-weight, flexible and good handling strength.

Provides low thermal conductivity and good dielectric strength and features excellent corrosion resistance.

This material is produced from an extremely pure alumino-silicate ceramic fiber non-woven material and can be used at 2300°F continuously with excursions to 3000°F / 1650°C.

 

[ehilge]

Wow, those options look quite promising. Thanks for the suggestions. Still open to other ideas if anyone has any.