Expanded polystyrene beads coated with intumescent flame retardant material to achieve fire safety standards

Bhoite, Sangram P. and Kim, Jonghyuck and Jo, Wan and Bhoite, Pravin H. and Mali, Sawanta S. and Park, Kyu-Hwan and Hong, Chang-Kook (2021) Expanded polystyrene beads coated with intumescent flame retardant material to achieve fire safety standards. Polymers, 13 (16). 2662. ISSN 2073-4360 (https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13162662)

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Abstract

The compatibility and coating ratio between flame retardant materials and expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam is a major impediment to achieving satisfactory flame retardant performance. In this study, we prepared a water-based intumescent flame retardant system and methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI)-coated expandable polystyrene microspheres by a simple coating approach. We investigated the compatibility, coating ratio, and fire performance of EPS- and MDI-coated EPS foam using a water-based intumescent flame retardant system. The microscopic study revealed that the water-based intumescent flame retardant materials were successfully incorporated with and without MDI-coated EPS microspheres. The cone calorimeter tests (CCTs) of the MDI-coated EPS containing water-based intumescent flame retardant materials exhibited better flame retardant performance with a lower total heat release (THR) 7.3 MJ/m2, peak heat release rate (PHRR) 57.6 kW/m2, fire growth rate (FIGRA) 2027.067 W/m2.s, and total smoke production (TSP) 0.133 m2. Our results demonstrated that the MDI-coated EPS containing water-based intumescent flame retardant materials achieved flame retarding properties as per fire safety standards.