Flame Retardant Behaviour and Physical-Mechanical Properties of Polymer Synergistic Systems in Rigid Polyurethane Foams

In the presented work, the influence of two flame retardants—ammonium polyphosphates and 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine on the polyurethane foam (PUR) systems were studied. In this paper, these interactive properties are studied by using the thermal analytical techniques, TGA and DTA, which enable the various thermal transitions and associated volatilization to be studied and enable the connection of the results with thermal and mechanical analysis, as are thermal conductivities, compression and bending behavior, hardness, flammability, and surface morphology. In this way, a greater understanding of what the addition of fire retardants to polyurethane foams means for system flammability itself and, on the other hand, how this addition affects the mechanical properties of PUR may be investigated. It was obtained that retardants significantly increase the fire resistance of the PURs systems while they do not affect the thermal conductivity and only slightly decrease the mechanical properties of the systems. Therefore, the presented systems seem to be applicable as thermal insulation where low heat conductivity coupled with high flame resistance is required.

Effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes with different diameters on morphology and thermal and mechanical properties of flexible polyurethane foams

We report flexible polyurethane foams (PUFs) containing –OH functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with different diameters (10–20 nm, 20–30 nm, >50 nm) from 0.1–0.6 wt% (per 100 resins of polyol by weight) prepared via in situ polymerization. After synthesis, the morphology of the MWCNT/PUF composites was observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) based on MWCNT amount. The MWCNTs acted as nucleating agents and increased the matrix viscosity. The pore size of the composites decreased and the number of pores increased with increasing MWCNT concentration. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) showed that the storage modulus of the composites increased, the loss modulus decreased, and the Tg gradually decreased with increasing MWCNT content. The incorporation of MWCNTs induced remarkable thermal stabilization of the matrix. The increase in the degradation temperature from 294°C to 304°C resulted in a 50% weight loss. The mechanical properties of the MWCNT/PUF materials increased with increasing MWCNT proportion because of the excellent compatibility and strong interface interaction between the MWCNT and flexible PUF.

Flame Retardant Behavior of Ternary Synergistic Systems in Rigid Polyurethane Foams

In order to explore flame retardant systems with higher efficiency in rigid polyurethane foams (RPUFs), aluminum hydroxide (ATH), [bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-methyl-phosphonic acid dimethyl ester (BH) and expandable graphite (EG) were employed in RPUF for constructing ternary synergistic flame retardant systems. Compared with binary BH/EG systems and aluminum oxide (AO)/BH/EG, ATH/BH/EG with the same fractions in RPUFs demonstrated an increase in the limited oxygen index value, a decreased peak value of heat release rate, and a decreased mass loss rate. In particular, it inhibited smoke release. During combustion, ATH in ternary systems decomposed and released water, which captured the phosphorus-containing products from pyrolyzed BH to generate polyphosphate. The polyphosphate combined with AO from ATH and the expanded char layer from EG, forming a char layer with a better barrier effect. In ternary systems, ATH, BH, and EG can work together to generate an excellent condensed-phase synergistic flame retardant effect.