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Chapter 17 - Progress in flame-retardant sustainable fiber/polymer composites

The worldwide demand for green and sustainable materials has given rise to production of composites from raw natural fibers and polymer matrices. In the past few decades, natural fibers have been widely used in polymer composites owing to their superior properties, which are comparable to or provide more advantages than those of synthetic fibers and traditional glass fibers in terms of mechanical properties, light weight, low cost, and minimal environmental and health hazards. However, the high combustibility of natural fiber-reinforced polymer composites (NFPCs) restricts their diverse applications, especially in engineering fields. To improve the flame retardancy of NFPCs, many researchers have made numerous efforts, such as incorporating traditional flame retardants or nanofillers and flame retardant-modified natural fibers into NFPCs and by applying non-flammable polymeric matrices in various fields. This chapter aims at summarizing the development of flame-retardant NFPCs based on open publications involving the types and properties of natural fibers and the recent progress in flame-retardant NFPCs based on different natural fibers and polymeric matrices. In addition, the flame-retardant mechanisms of the combination of natural fibers and flame retardants or nanoadditives in polymers have also been discussed. Finally, promising industrial applications of flame-retardant NFPCs will be discussed.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to flame retardants for polymeric materials

Because of the growing concern about environmental preservation, polymers derived from renewable resources are receiving a lot of attention in order to increase their durability and lower their carbon footprint. Progressively, in many technical settings, renewables are consumed rather than short-term items. Nevertheless, given the possible fire risk and their participation in our everyday routines, the flame backwardness of these polymers, among other purposes, needs to be addressed for industrial uses. Traditional numerous excellent flame retardants based on phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur, metal salts, metal oxides, and halogen compounds were created in order to address this possible hazard. Nevertheless, upon combustion, a few of these components, especially halogen flame retardants, produced a huge amount of smoke, abrasive fumes, and hazardous materials. One of the motivations for limiting the usage of halogen flame retardants and driving the introduction of halogen-free alternatives was a rise in environmental and ecological issues. In addition, propelling the development of bio-based polymers and additives from renewable origins is driven by growing worries about reducing the environmental impact of materials. As a consequence, increased emphasis has been placed on the improvement of sustainable flame-retardant solutions for developing synthetic polymers. Due to their high availability, intrinsic properties, and application as flame retardants for polymers, biomass compounds are studied in this chapter as a favorable approach to the provision of materials with ameliorated fire tolerance.

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Chapter 7 - Chitosan-based flame-retardant polymeric materials and their applications

In the last years, the world of flame retardance is experiencing a new trend toward the assessment of the suitability of bio-sourced products for the design of efficient flame retardants (FRs) for bulk plastics, textiles, and foams. In this context, during the last decade, chitosan, the deacetylated form of chitin, emerged as a new bio-sourced flame-retardant product, hence paving the way for new uses of this biomolecule, very far from its well-known applications. Indeed, chitosan shows several advantages and peculiarities that may justify its use for the design of new flame retardants. First, it is a good carbon source that, also combined with other selected intumescent products, can confer acceptable to high flame-retardant properties to different polymer systems. Then, this quite cheap product can be further chemically modified, hence ameliorating its flame-retardant features or its ease of dispersion within selected polymer matrices. In addition, the biomolecule can provide multifunctional features to the treated polymer systems: as an example, apart from flame retardance, it is well known to possess good antibacterial features. Finally, the use of chitosan for flame-retardant purposes is well addressed toward a green and sustainable approach, well matching the current circular economy concept. This chapter is aimed at summarizing the latest progresses regarding the use of chitosan as “key” constituent for the design of effective flame-retardant formulations suitable for bulk polymers, fabrics, and foams. The recent advances will be discussed, together with some perspectives for the next future.

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