Effect of flame-retardant additive with polyurea for explosive environment

ABSTRACT

The demand for improved damage control materials to address fire mitigation has led to an interest in polyurea (PU). The main problem with PU is poor burning properties which produce smoke to the environment and threaten public health. In order to improve its fire characteristics, PU may be mixed with flame-retardant (FR) additives. Melamine polyphosphate (MPP) is an FR additive which is a halogen-free compound and possesses high thermal stability. In this work, FR and thermal property of PU, with and without the addition of MPP (0%, 5%, 10% and 15% by weight), was studied using flammability, limiting oxygen index, smoke density and thermogravimetric analysis as per American Society for Testing and Materials standards. The results indicate that 10% and above quantities of MPP with PU have excellent FR, low heat release rate and smoke suppression efficiency.

KEYWORDS:

• Polyurea
• FR additive
• LOI
• smoke density
• explosive environment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Arunkumar T

Arunkumar T Indian citizen, born in Gingee, Villupuram District, TamilNadu. He is specialized in the field of Mechanical Engineering, with his Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master Degree in Engineering Design and PhD in Mechanical engineering  (Coating). He has 10 years of teaching experience and is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, CMR Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, India. His research interests cover ceramic, polymeric, nano materials, surface coating, tribological behaviour, corrosion, and mechanical testing. He as a co-investigator has successfully completed a funded research project from the Ministry of Defense, CVRDE, Chennai, India. He has published more than 20 research articles in various SCI/WoS and Scopus indexed Journals.

Venkatachalam P

Venkatachalam P is specialized in the field of Materials Science, with his Bachelor Degree in Physics, Master Degree in Materials Science and PhD in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering. He has 12 years of teaching experience and is currently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MVJ College of Engineering, Bengaluru, India. His research interests are severe plastic deformation processes, texture engineering and structure property correlations. He completed one sponsored project funded by DST, New Delhi under fast track scheme for young scientist.

Anish. M

Anish. M has obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering and PhD in Nuclear Reactor. He has more than 08 years of teaching experience at various levels and is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of science and Technology, Chennai, TamilNadu, India.  He has guided a good number of Academic Projects for UG and PG students in his career. He has published/presented several papers in various national and international journals / conferences.

Beemkumar N.

Beemkumar N. has obtained his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering in Energy Engineering and Ph.D. in Solar Thermal Energy Storage. He has more than 13 years of teaching experience. He has published more than 50 research articles in various SCI/WoS and Scopus indexed Journals with the cumulative impact factor closer to 45 (As per Journal Citation Reports ® Clarivate Analytics). He received many awards for his outstanding contribution in the research. His current research interests include Thermal energy storage with nano-encapsulated PCM, methods to reduce NOx emission in bio-fuelled CI engine and solar powered refrigeration systems.

Jayaprabakar J.

Jayaprabakar J. is a citizen of India, born in Gudiyattam, Vellore District, TamilNadu. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering Master’s degree in Thermal Engineering and PhD in Alternate fuels. He has more than 16 years of teaching experience at various levels and is presently working as an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sathyabama Institute of science and Technology, Chennai, India. He has completed a funded project and is currently involving in a few funded projects. Currently 4 research scholars are pursuing PhD under his guidance. He has guided a good number of Academic Projects for UG and PG students in his career. He has published/presented several papers in various national and international journals / conferences.

Sajin J B

Sajin J B is presently working as an Associate Professor in Sree Buddha college of Engineering, Pattoor, Kerala. He acquired B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering and ME in Manufacturing and PhD in Advanced composite materials. He has 10 years of teaching experience and published more than 15 research papers in various International and National journals. His research interest covers composite materials, bio-composites, Nanomaterial’s and bio diesel.