Enhancement in fire retardant Properties of Coconut Coir/Polyurethane acoustic composites.

This study aims to enhance the flammability properties of coconut coir and polyurethane resin sound-absorbing material. Sound absorption properties of the material for normal sound incidence were measured using impedance tube setup up based on ISO 10534-2 and ASTM E1050-98 standards whereas fire-retardant tests include limiting oxygen (ASTM D2863 standard) and flame extinguish tests. Results illustrate that coconut coir fiber with polyurethane resin has greater sound absorption characteristics; moreover, it has poor fire-retardant properties. Effect of different synthetic and natural fire retardants like diammonium phosphate (DAP), urea, and aloe vera were investigated. Fire-retardant tests show that material treated with DAP and aloe vera shows excellent self-extinguish properties. Morphological study of the acoustic material has been performed by using scanning electron microscope. Also, acoustic tests show that the effect of fire retardants on sound absorption characteristic of the material was not too deteriorating.

Automated summary

This study aims to enhance the flammability properties of coconut coir and polyurethane resin sound-absorbing material. The results show that the addition of fire retardants can improve the fire-retardant properties of the material, with minimal effect on the sound absorption characteristics.