Last summer I had an unfortunate wet start that caused and engine nacelle fire and did considerable damage in just a few seconds. It started me thinking about some kind of heat protection for the paper thin fiberglass nacelles. I looked at various materials that are intended for this purpose but weight was an issue as the nacelles are way back of the c of g.
As you can see by this picture the damage was significant.
This damage as mentioned took only about 8 seconds. The fire was quickly ( not quickly enough) put out with the CO-2 extinguisher but
with no barrier between the glass and the flame it was too late.
I first decided to paint the interior of the nacelle with a high heat tolerant paint (header paint) to seal the fiberglass so the heat reflective sheet would bond better to the surface.
The "Reflect a gold " sticky back sheet comes in either 12 x 12 or 12 x 24 inch sheets and is very flexible .
Capable of handling continual temperatures up to 850°F
Adhesive protected by a release liner rated up to 325°F
This is intended to give momentary protection to the fiberglass but it would not be affective if the fire was not extinguished right away.
The weight gain was less than an ounce per nacelle as compared to about 8 oz each for the heavier insulating material.
It is easy to measure and cut the sheets and with a little patience the install is quickly accomplished.
These heat insulating products can be found on the Duralite Flight Systems web site
www.duraliteflightsystems.com under accessories heat reflective products.
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