Tackling smoke toxicity and fire hazards of thermoplastic polyurethane by mechanochemical combination of Cu2O nanoparticles and zirconium phosphate nanosheets

A major challenge is to adopt environmentally friendly means for the development of flame retardants of high efficiency in suppressing toxic smoke. An environmentally friendly method through mechanochemical treatment is reported herein to decorate zirconium phosphate nanosheets with Cu2O nanoparticles (Cu2O@ZrP) for suppressing the release of toxic products from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Cu2O@ZrP at 5 wt% provides TPU with a high tensile strength of 28.1 MPa and tensile toughness of 118.9 MJ center dot m (-) (3). It reduces the peak heat release rate by 46.2% and the peak smoke production rate by 40.2%. More importantly, Cu2O@ZrP exhibits high efficiency in suppressing the volatile products, e.g., 27.1% reduction of CO. The mechanisms are explained from the synergy, physical barrier, and catalysis action of Cu2O@ZrP. This work provides a green, facile approach for creating high-performance flame retardants to reduce the smoke toxicity and fire hazard of TPU.

Automated summary

The environmentally friendly flame retardant Cu2O@ZrP was synthesized using mechanochemical treatment. It effectively reduced the release of toxic smoke and volatile products from thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), while improving its mechanical properties.