The Building Of Fire Toxicity Test Platform And Its Application In The Studying Of Combustion Effluent Of PP Composites

Polymer materials have been applied broadly in many fields due to their excellent properties and low manufacturing cost. However, polymers are highly combustible materials and will release large amount of heat and toxic fire effluent, which result to severe fire hazard. According to many fire reports, the majority of fire deaths are attributed to inhalation of toxic gases in fire effluent, especially carbon monoxide (CO). Therefore, studies of fire effluent toxicity were not only the complements for flame retardant technology, but also an important research area for fire engineering and material designers. In this article, a Fire Toxicity Test Platform was built, which is capable of simulating of different fire scenarios. Then the combustion effluent of several commercial polymers and PP composites in different combustion conditions have been studied, aim to investigate the influence and effect of combustion condition and materials structure or composition on the combustion toxicity of polymers. The PP composites were prepared by introduction of common flame retardants and nano enforcement additives in PP matrix. The main research achievements are as following:The Fire Toxicity Test Platform (FTTP) was built and accomplished the calibration and standardization of different section of FTTP. Then, in order to verify the repeatability and reproducibility of FTTP, LDPE, PS, PMMA, PVC and PA66were selected to be test by FTTP under Well-Ventilated and Post-Flashover fire scenarios. Finally, the experiment results were used for the comparative analysis of fire toxicity from the five materials in different fire scenarios, and provide more accurate and reliable data for the fire safety engineer and materials researchers.PP/CNTs/IFR nanocomposites was prepared by masterbatch and melt blending method. The results of TG and TEM show that CNTs well dispersed in PP and reduced the thermal stability of PP composites. FTTP was used to test the fire toxicity of PP/CNTs/IFR nanocomposites in three different fire scenarios. The results showed that the addition of APP-PER will increase the smoke density and CO release. While the introduction of CNTs can effectively reduce the production of hydrocarbons at under-ventilated fire stage. It is suggested that CNTs have the ability to adsorb hydrocarbon and promote its degradation.Titania nanotube was prepared by the hydrothermal synthesis method, and proved by XRD and TEM. PP/Metal Oxides (MOs) nanocomposite were prepared by adding nano-size CO3O4, Fe2O3and TiO2into PP matrix. TG and MCC show that MOs can promote the char formation and decrease the hear release. Organic volatile gaseous and CO obviously decreased in the thermal decomposition of PP/MOs composites in nitrogen atmosphere compared with pure PP. Then the combustion effluent of PP/MOs composites were studied by FTTP in poor ventilated conditions. MOs exhibit effective catalytic effect to CxHy and smoke density in the combustion of PP composites. They also contribute to the oxidation of CO, except CO3O4. TNT have the best performance at low loading.