Experimental and numerical perspective on the fire performance of MXene/Chitosan/Phytic acid coated flexible polyurethane foam
Bo Lin, Anthony Chun Yin Yuen, Timothy Bo Yuan Chen, Bin Yu, Wei Yang, Jin Zhang, Yin Yao, Shuying Wu, Chunhui Wang, Guan Heng Yeoh
Abstract
Recent discoveries of two-dimensional transitional metal based materials have emerged as an excellent candidate for fabricating nanostructured flame-retardants. Herein, we report an eco-friendly flame-retardant for flexible polyurethane foam (PUF), which is synthesised by hybridising MXene (Ti[Formula: see text]) with biomass materials including phytic acid (PA), casein, pectin, and chitosan (CH). Results show that coating PUFs with 3 layers of CH/PA/Ti[Formula: see text] via layer-by-layer approach reduces the peak heat release and total smoke release by 51.1% and 84.8%, respectively. These exceptional improvements exceed those achieved by a CH/Ti[Formula: see text] coating. To further understand the fundamental flame and smoke reduction phenomena, a pyrolysis model with surface regression was developed to simulate the flame propagation and char layer. A genetic algorithm was utilised to determine optimum parameters describing the thermal degradation rate. The superior flame-retardancy of CH/PA/Ti[Formula: see text] was originated from the shielding and charring effects of the hybrid MXene with biomass materials containing aromatic rings, phenolic and phosphorous compounds.