Safe and Environmentally Friendly Methods of Making Materials More Flame Retardant
Researchers at Purdue University have developed a safe, environmentally responsible method for transforming carbon-containing materials into flame retardants via phosphorylation. These natural products, lignin, tannic acid, and natural oils, are all potential renewable feedstock; researchers were able to chemically modify them to enhance char formation and increase their compatibility with polymer systems, while exhibiting none of the safety issues faced with brominated flame retardants. Modified products have been characterized using techniques, such as nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, to determine the extent of modification and chemical changes during char formation and decomposition; the products' flame retardant characteristics can be determined using limited oxygen index and vertical burn tests.
Enhanced char formation, translating to increased flame retardant propertyEnvironmentally responsible
Flame retardant polymer development
Jeffrey YoungbloodPurdue Materials Engineering
United States
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美國
