Types of car fire blankets

There are several types of car fire blankets in the marketplace, and can be classified according to their measurements or the type of fabric in their composition. Being the used material, the one that can show the difference regarding their resistance, ease of handling, effectiveness, etc.

The most common materials used for this type of product are silica fibers, fiberglass and, in some cases, Quartz fibers too. When these fibers become a fabric, they are submitted to different processes to enhance their resistance and get new features like waterproofing, resistance to abrasion, etc. All of them are flame retardant fabrics that withstand high temperatures, but have different features…

Silica blankets
For example, with Silica fabrics, blankets are tailored in a way that they can resist temperatures higher than 1,000 °C during a long period of time. On the contrary, these are very heavy blankets (around 40 kg.), with a low resistance to abrasion and a high price. Some manufacturers commercialize them as multi-use blankets, and others as special blankets for electric cars.

Fiberglass blankets
Fiberglass blankets have a lower resistance to high temperatures, if exposed during an extended time. On the other hand, these are more flexible blankets and thus are easier to place on top of the car.

Differences between a fire blankets for fuel cars and a fire blankets for electric cars
Nowadays, there is not a clear difference between car fire blanket for fuel or diesel cars and fire blankets for electric cars.

Some manufacturers commercialize car fire blankets with different types of fabrics in order to differentiate them, regarding the type of car that must be extinguished, but the result is basically the same: Fire is extinguished in a fuel car but not in an electric car.

Besides of what’s said by some manufacturers, nowadays there is not a car fire blanket that can extinguish an electric vehicle on fire without using another extinction element in conjunction, like water, dust, thermal lance, etc.

Why can any fire blanket extinguish an electric car?
Vehicles have some materials that can set on fire like gasoline, oils, etc. These type of fuels are suffocated if oxygen is cut out. This is the principle that makes a car fire blanket effective, because it impedes that air can feed flames.

On the other hand, a fire in an electric vehicle is harder to extinguish because of the acids in its batteries, when they are submitted to high temperatures, they produce a chemical reaction that release oxygen particles, same time they feed the fire, whose heat feeds back the chemical reaction of the acids. This chain reaction implies that the simple use of a car fire blanket is not enough to suffocate a fire in an electric car. Because under the blanket, the battery's oxygen stills feeding the flames.

Therefore, car fire blankets are very useful to CONTROL fires in this type of vehicles because, thanks to the blanket, the affected area can be controlled, the heat and toxic fumes spreading can be reduced, the advancement and spreading of flames can be impeded, damages in other surround element can be avoided and, above all, they allow emergency services to work safely.

What’s the best car fire blanket?
Texfire has performed several tests in its internal laboratories and also in real cars.

Regarding our results, Texfire has praised for a fiberglass based fabric coated in both sides by flame retardant polymer, able to resist continuous temperatures of 550ºC and peak temperatures of 1000ºC.

The use of this type of coated fabric, allows Texfire to tailor more flexible and light blankets (around 28 kg), with high resistance to scuffs and tearing, and they are also waterproof.