Improving fire retardancy flame-retarded matrices

Bromination of vinyl-ester resin imparts fire retardancy as manifested by flame spread and lower RHR [50]. However, this fire-retardant system functions primarily in the gas phase causing incomplete combustion. As such, brominated resins produce dense smoke, and an increase in the yield of CO and HBr. Recent interest in the use of non-halogenated organic-matrix composite materials in US Navy submarines and ships has generated the requirement for significant improvement in the flammability performance of these materials including reduction in the amount of smoke, CO and corrosive combustion products. 

Polypropylene nanocomposites have attracted more and more interest in flame retardant area in recent years due to their improved fire properties [18-20], It is suggested that the presence of clay can enhance the char formation providing a transient protective barrier and hence slowing down the degradation of the matrix [19,20],... 

The use of fire-resistant resins or the incorporation of Flame Retardant (FR) systems into the polymer binder improve, partially, fire reaction behaviour however, these solutions generally lead to a reduction of mechanical properties of the final product. Polymer binder modification with inorganic Nano Materials (NM), could be a potential and efficient solution to control matrix flammability without scarifying other important properties of PM (Ribeiro et al., 2013). 

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