Layered double hydroxide-based fire resistant coatings for flexible polyurethane foam

Montmorillonite clay (MMT) is frequently used to create fire resistance in Layer-by-Layer (LbL) applied coatings. This manuscript reports that switching the MMT with layered double hydroxides (LDH) produced a more effective fire resistant coating on flexible foam. Most of the formulations required at most two trilayers (TL) to produce ignition resistant and very low heat release rate polyurethane foam. The best coating (greatest flammability reduction with the least amount of coating) delivered a 41% reduction in peak heat release rate. This was a 2TL, 10% mass coating produced using a coating solution with a high LDH content. This manuscript discusses the impact of the LDH-based coating formulations and number of monolayers on the LbL coating growth rate, composition, and fire resistance. Published by Elsevier Ltd.