Clays as Inhibitors of Polyurethane Foams' Flammability

Polyurethanes are a very important group of polymers with an extensive range of applications in different branches of industry. In the form of foams, they are mainly used in bedding, furniture, building, construction, and automotive sectors. Due to human safety reasons, these applications require an appropriate level of flame retardance, often required by various law regulations. Nevertheless, without the proper modifications, polyurethane foams are easily ignitable, highly flammable, and generate an enormous amount of smoke during combustion. Therefore, proper modifications or additives should be introduced to reduce their flammability. Except for the most popular phosphorus-, halogen-, or nitrogen-containing flame retardants, promising results were noted for the application of clays. Due to their small particle size and flake-like shape, they induce a "labyrinth effect" inside the foam, resulting in the delay of decomposition onset, reduction of smoke generation, and inhibition of heat, gas, and mass transfer. Moreover, clays can be easily modified with different organic compounds or used along with conventional flame retardants. Such an approach may often result in the synergy effect, which provides the exceptional reduction of foams' flammability. This paper summarizes the literature reports related to the applications of clays in the reduction of polyurethane foams' flammability, either by their incorporation as a nanofiller or by preparation of coatings.

Preparation and properties of polyurethane coatings modified by polysilazane

Due to their unique physicochemical properties, polysilazanes exhibit excellent performance when combined with some resin matrixes, which had drawn great research attention. In this article, polyurethane (PU) was firstly prepared by polytetrahydrofuran glycol, isophorone diisocyanate, and 1,4-butanediol as main materials. Then, the prepared PU was blended with polysilazane by mixing the two solutions together, which was cured to films via dip-coating method at room temperature. The structure, thermal stability, and surface properties of the composite coatings were investigated by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results demonstrated that after modification with polysilazane, the heat resistance, hydrophobicity, and mechanical property of the PU coatings were improved. When the content of polysilazane was 6 wt%, the mechanical property of the composite films was optimized, with a maximum tensile strength of 25.7 MPa and elongation at break of 797%. Meanwhile, the water contact angle of the composite film was 107° and the water absorption reached a minimum of 2.1%, which showed improved hydrophobicity and water resistance.