Flame retardant materials (FR) control or reduce the risk of fire and have a direct impact on safety. Most commonly used halogenated FR are toxic to biological life and environmentally persistent. Hence, there is a need to replace these toxic FR with environment friendly alternatives. In this study we have evaluated the efficacy of polyphenols, specifically polymers of cardanol as FR in polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene). Thermal characterization of polycardanol using thermogravimetric analysis and pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry indicated that these polyphenols produce significant amount of carbonaceous char (> 20%) upon combustion. They also exhibited low heat release capacities (HRC) (~250 J/gK). The presence of long aliphatic chains in these polycardanol-based FR facilitated their blending into polyolefins yielding higher stabilities than those of the base polymer. Preliminary results also indicated ~20% reduction in the HRC of the blends. Detailed flammability and mechanistic studies of these FR are currently underway.

Evaluation of performance of polycardanol based flame-retardants in polyolefins

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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