ARBOK-TEGA-Blanket: A Reusable Graphene-Layer Fire Blanket for Armored Vehicles, Battery Fires and High-Energy Equipment

Armed conflict has made fires of vehicles, warehouses, engine compartments and substations a routine event, and water is often unavailable or ineffective. Electric vehicles make the problem worse: a lithium-ion vehicle in thermal runaway requires 80-90 tonnes of water, about 60 fire engines with a 1.5-tonne tank. This preprint describes TEGA-Blanket, a flexible fire blanket based on thermally expanded graphite ARBOK (TEGA), a material with 3-5 billion single-atom graphene layers per particle, a surface area of thousands of m² per gram and structures rated for 3800 °C. The blanket cuts off oxygen, redistributes and absorbs heat and binds part of the smoke and combustion products. It is reusable after cooling, cleaning and thermal regeneration, needs no pressurized cylinders, powder or foam, and can be made in any size. The technology is at TRL 3.