Abstract: The cone calorimeter, vertical/horizontal burning test and limiting oxygen index test were used to study the influence of unidirectional and woven fabric ply structures on the fire behavior of carbon/epoxy laminate. The results show that with the increase of heat flux, the ignition time of carbon/epoxy laminates with different ply structures decreased, the mass residual rate reduced, the peak value of heat release rate and smoke production rate, the total heat release and total smoke release increased, and the time to peak decreased. Under the same heat flux, compared with the woven fabric ply structure, the carbon/epoxy laminate of unidirectional ply structure has longer ignition time, higher mass residual rate, heat release rate and smoke production peak value. The time to peak is shorter, the total heat release and total smoke release are lower. Besides, the flame spread speed of the woven fabric ply structure laminate is slow, and the influence of ply structure on the limiting oxygen index is small.

Key words: ply structure, carbon/epoxy laminate, cone calorimeter, fire behavior