Annuaire des chercheurs et enseignants-chercheurs de Centrale Lille
Serge Bourbigot is a recognized expert in the field of fire science and polymer materials. He graduated as a chemical engineer from ENSCL and obtained his PhD in spectrochemistry from the University of Lille 1 in 1993, beginning his academic career as a lecturer at ENSCL before becoming a professor at ENSAIT in Roubaix from 1999 to 2003, and then a guest researcher at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA) in 2002–2003 within the Fire Division, Materials Group. He subsequently joined Centrale Lille Institut, where he has pursued a high-profile academic career.
His pioneering research on the reaction to fire and fire resistance of polymeric materials has earned him international recognition. He has been awarded two highly prestigious grants from the European Research Council: an ERC Advanced Grant, FireBar-Concept (2.5 M€) in 2015, and an ERC Synergy Grant, FireSpace (14 M€), a rare achievement that underlines the scientific excellence and impact of his work. In 2020, he was elected senior fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) or university institute of France, an honor distinguishing leading researchers in France, with his fellowship renewed in 2025.
His research combines fundamental understanding and practical innovation, with a particular focus on the fire behavior of materials under complex and extreme conditions, such as battery fires, hydrogen flames and microgravity environments. His activity covers a wide spectrum, from formulation synergies, nanocomposites and spectrochemistry to reactive extrusion, modeling, scale reduction, dimensional analysis and pyrolysis. This integrated approach provides a comprehensive scientific, technological and forward-looking perspective on modern fire safety of materials.
Fire retardancy, intumescence, pyrolysis, kinetics, modeling, solid state NMR
Summary
More than 400 publications in international peer‑reviewed journals, 46 book chapters or contributions, 18 articles in technological journals and 16 international patents. h-index: 98; over 33,450 citations (Google Scholar).
Selected publications
- Bourbigot S., “Intumescence: past, present and future”, Fire Safety Journal 2026, 161, 104656. DOI: 10.1016/j.firesaf.2026.104656.
- Li Y., Guibaud A., Citerne J.-M., Consalvi J.-L., Coimbra A., Sarazin J., Bourbigot S., Torero J. L., Legros G., “Effects of flame retardants on extinction limits, spread rate, and smoke release in opposed-flow flame spread over thin cylindrical polyethylene samples in microgravity”, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 2023, 39(3), 3919–3928. DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2022.08.030.
- Bourbigot S., Sarazin J., Davy C. A., Fontaine G., “Foamed geopolymers for fire protection: Burn-through testing and modeling”, Fire and Materials 2021, 46(7), 1011–1019. DOI: 10.1002/fam.3048.
- Davesne A. L., Bensabath T., Sarazin J., Bellayer S., Parent F., Samyn F., Jimenez M., Sanchette F., Bourbigot S., “Low-Emissivity Metal–Dielectric Coatings as Radiative Barriers for the Fire Protection of Raw and Formulated Polymers”, ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2020, 2(7), 2880–2889. DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.0c00399.
- Bourbigot S., Sarazin J., Samyn F., Jimenez M., “Intumescent ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer: Reaction to fire and mechanistic aspects”, Polymer Degradation and Stability 2019, 161, 235–244. DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2019.01.029.
- Okyay G., Naik A. D., Samyn F., Jimenez M., Bourbigot S., “Fractal conceptualization of intumescent fire barriers, toward simulations of virtual morphologies”, Scientific Reports 2019, 9(1), 1872. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-38515-9.
- Bourbigot, S.; Fontaine, G.; Gallos, A.; Bellayer, S. Reactive extrusion of PLA and of PLA/carbon nanotubes nanocomposite: processing, characterization and flame retardancy. Polym. Adv. Technol. 2011, 22 (1), 30-37. DOI: 10.1002/pat.1715.
- Mamleev, V.; Bourbigot, S. Modulated thermogravimetry in analysis of decomposition kinetics. Chem. Eng. Sci. 2005, 60 (3), 747-766.
- Bourbigot S., Vanderhart D. L., Gilman J. W., Awad W. H., Davis R. D., Morgan A. B., Wilkie C. A., “Investigation of nanodispersion in polystyrene-montmorillonite nanocomposites by solid-state NMR”, Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 2003, 41(24), 3188–3213. DOI: 10.1002/polb.10646.
- Bourbigot S., Le Bras M., Delobel R., Trémillon J.-M., “Synergistic effect of zeolite in an intumescence process: Study of the interactions between the polymer and the additives”, Journal of the Chemical Society, Faraday Transactions 1996, 92(18), 3435–3444. DOI: 10.1039/FT9969203435.
