FURI | Spring 2019

Enhancing the Flame Retardancy of Polymers by Coating Nanosheets

Fires cause significant loss of life and financial damage, but current fire-retardant materials produce hazardous byproducts. New fire-retardant materials made from nanomaterials are being pursued. In this project, titanium diboride (TiB2) nanosheets in aqueous dispersions were produced by ultrasonication exfoliation. Using thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and ASTM D6413 vertical flame test, it was found that coating TiB2 nanosheets layer by layer on fabrics can improve the flame retardancy of polymer fibers.