Alginate/Polymer-Based Materials for Fire Retardancy: Synthesis, Structure, Properties, and Applications

Abstract

Increasing demands in minimization of fire risks and meeting fire safety requirements by polymers require advances in knowledge of flame-retardant materials suitable for use in fire-retardancy applications. The present work represents the seminal review of alginate/polymer-based materials as flame retardants. Alginates are suitable for this application as they represent alternatives to petroleum-based polymer feedstocks. The content of the present work is structured into four sections: synthesis and structure, including alginate synthesis and modification by polymeric conjugation; properties, including four-stage mechanism of thermal degradation; applications, including commercial information on alginates and polymers; and flame retardancy, including comprehensive summaries of test methods and published data, discussion of key parameters, eight fire retardancy mechanisms, four char generation mechanisms, and extensive quantitative analysis of polymer char formation. The final section culminates in a first-principles approach to the prediction of quantitative polymer char formation. The goal of the review is to provide guidance for the application of alginates and alginates conjugated with fire-retardant polymers as a new generation flame retardant material.

Keywords:

• Polymerized alginates
• polymeric fire retardant materials
• polymer synthesis
• polymer structure
• fire-retardant properties
• commercial applications

Disclosure statement

The authors have no competing interests.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Australian Research Council Industrial Training Transformation Centre (IC170100032).