Fire retardancy enhancement of unsaturated polyester polymer resin filled with nano and micro particulate oxide additives

In the last years the traditional construction materials, such as wood, glass and steel, have been increasingly replaced by polymer composite materials due to their superior properties. However, this feature has also raised buildings' combustibility fire hazards. Polymer modification with inorganic nanoparticles can be a potential and efficient solution to control matrix flammability without sacrificing other important properties. In this study a new type of unsaturated polyester based composite materials with enhanced fire retardancy are developed, through polymer modification with nano/micro oxide particles and common flame retardants systems. For this purpose, the design of experiments based on Taguchi methodology and analyses of variance were applied. Samples with different material contents and processing parameters resultant from the L9 Taguchi orthogonal array were produced, and their fire properties assessed and quantified by single-flame source and vertical flammability tests. It was found that material and processing parameters have different effects on different properties. Unsaturated polyester composites modified with nano and micro oxide particles showed better fire performance compared to the neat composite improving at least one fire property whatever the nature of the filler. More thorough studies are required in order to improve mix design formulations towards further fire retardancy enhancement.