A 34 page overview from Asia in the Review of Chemical Engineering shows that PIN flame retardants are key to enabling the development of biofibres, biopolymers and bio(nano)composites, demanded by industries such as automotive, construction, aerospace and electronics requiring “environmentally benign materials. ”Demand is for materials which are bio-sourced, to replace metals whilst reducing weight, and are non-halogenated.
PIN flame retardants are essential to enable this whilst ensuring fire safety, reducing fatalities and property loss in case of fire. The authors underline the current number of fires in road vehicles (1.2 million per year in the USA). Trends in a range of PIN flame retardancy approaches are summarised, including layer-by-layer nano deposition, plasma FR treatments, sol-gel. Recent studies on PIN FR performance in bio(nano)composites, in particular PLA (polylactic acid) are presented, including both developments in application of known PIN FRs (e.g. ammonium polyphosphate, melamine polyphosphate, aluminium hydroxide) and new products such as zeolites, phosphorus-linked polymers and new phosphorus compounds, novel char promoters (e.g. TT4, PPLA), nanocarbons/nanographites, nanoclays.
“Emerging trends in flame retardancy of biofibers, biopolymers, biocomposites, and bionanocomposites”, Rev. Chem. Eng. 2015, C. Idumah & A. Hassan, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia