Hembacon

Hembacon (acronym for "Hemp-based construction) is a material designed by Monty Anderson of Fanaglian Central Textiles. It is a semi-rigid fabric material that is most often used in the construction of airship envelopes, usually ones designed for military purposes. It is favored by the Fanaglian Royal Air Service because it is flame retardant, rigid yet easily manipulated, easy to repair and maintain, and effectively acts as a light armor against small arms fire. Its use was originally pioneered in the world's first purpose-built military aircraft, the FCT Flying Monitor.

=Construction=

The makeup and construction of Hembacon is a closely guarded secret of FCT and the Fanaglian government. All information located herein is classified and considered "eyes only." Any unauthorized dissemination of the information located herein shall be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.

The primary basis of hembacon is a woven fabric made from fibers of asbestos and narrow-gauge aluminum wire woven tightly together. Early attempts at creating a flame-retardant, bullet-resistant envelope material used hemp, rather than asbestos, in its construction, which is where the name originally came from -- all export-model aircraft featuring hembacon, including the Flying Monitors sold to Inesea before the War for Voerdish Sovereignty, were built using this earlier technique. Following the replacement of hemp by asbestos, the name "hembacon" was kept as an intentionally-misleading misnomer.

Once the fabric has been positioned and is ready for application, the underside is then coated in a thin layer of resin. The resin coating gives the material rigidity, while still remaining flexible to respond to changing temperatures and humidity, as well as to help absorb impacts, such as from accidents or from incoming enemy fire.

Once the resin has set, the outside is then covered in a thick layer of wax. The wax acts to seal moisture from the fabric to prevent distortion of the weave, as well as helping to seal small gaps in the event of a breach in the resin barrier behind the fabric substrate, slowing the velocity of incoming projectiles, and absorbing the heat from those projectiles before they penetrate the envelope.

The effect of this construction is to reduce the velocity of incoming projectiles by as much as 60%. The heat of incoming small arms fire is estimated to be reduced by as much as 75% and the risk of exposure of the interior gasbags within a protected envelope to an external ignition source is claimed to be reduced by as much as 95%.