Research Journal of Recent Sciences ______ ______________________________ ______ ____ ___ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 2 ( ISC - 2012 ), 38 - 40 (201 3 ) Res.J. Recent .Sci. International Science Congress Association 38 Short Communication Increasing combusting R esistance for A dvanced C omposites by using F ire R etardants Al - Mosawi Ali I . 1 , Al - Zubadi Ali A. 2 and Al - Maamori Mohammad H. 3 1 Technical Institute - Babylon , IRAQ 2,3 Materials Engineering College, Babylon Univer sity , IRAQ Available online at: www.isca.in Received 10 th September 2012 , revised 15 th January 201 3 , accepted 29 th January 201 3 Abstract The aim of this paper is to use inorganic fire retardant mixture consist of zinc borate - antimony trioxide to increase the fire retardancy for advanced composite material consist of araldite resin reinforced by carbon - Kevlar fibers .In first stage a surface layer from zinc borate as a coating layer of (4mm) thickness was used. Then, this system was exposed to a direct Oxyacetylene torch flame with flame exposure intervals 10,20mm, and study the range of resistance of retardant material layer to the flames and protected the substrate. The second stage was to form a hybrid fire retarda nt by added antimony trioxide with various amount (10%,15%,20%,25%,30%) to zinc borate for enhance the action of this material to react flame and exposure this hybrid material to same flame temperature and exposure intervals. Method of measuring the surfac e temperature opposite to the flame was used to determine the heat t ransferred to composite material . T he best results were obtained with large exposed interval and large percentage from protective layer which is zinc bora te with (30%) antimony trioxide . Keywords: Fire r etardancy, a dvanced c omposite , i norganic r etardants. Introduction A fire - retardant coating or paint is intended to delay ignition and reduce the surface burning rate of a combustible wood, cellulosic fiber or cellular plastic building material for a short period of time. It may be applied as a thick protective covering by trowel or as a fire - retardant paint by brush, spray, or roller. The reduction of burning rate usually depends on the applied thickness 1 . In the case of a fire - retarda nt paint exposed to fire, the paint may intumesce, forming an insulating blanket which retards surface ignition and reduces the burning rate of the combustible material on the coated side . Fire - retardant coatings will effectively reduce the burning rate of a combustible surface for a period of about 10 - 15 minutes. Their use is particularly applicable in very low hazard occupancies not requiring sprinkler protection, where occupancy is not likely to change and the only hazard is that of exposed, interior fin ish materials 2 . Fire retardants commonly divided into four major groups: Inorganic FRs, o rgano phosphorus FRs, Nitrogen - containing FRs and Halogenated organic FRs 3 . Inorganic flame retardants make up a large part of the market encompassing various aluminu m, nitrogen, phosphorous, and boron compounds 4 . These widely used low cost materials have been around for centuries, proven to be effective flame retardants in fibers in clothing and fillers for textiles. The majority of these inorganic flame retardants wo rk by diluting both the condensed and vapor phase of the polymer with non - flammable salts, acids and by - products such as water and alumina (Al 2 O 3 ) 5 . Figure - 1 shows the mode action for inorganic FRs. Figure - 1 Mode of action for inorganic F Rs Polymeric plastic combustion occurs in the vapor phase. When a plastic is exposed to increased temperatures, the plastic undergoes pyrolysis. Potentially combustible vapors are slowly released at first. Since many polymers are substituted, the increase in surrounding temperatures can cause variations in connectivity among the monomer units 6 . Often, these variations in connectivity result in an overall weakening of the polymer structure and can encourage the release of more vapors and liquids, both flam mable and non - flammable. As the heat source persists, the temperature of the polymer increases steadily 7 . Research Journal of Recent Sciences _____ _ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 2 ( ISC - 2012 ), 38 - 40 (201 3 ) Res.J.Recent.Sci International Science Congress Association 39 Material and Methods Materials Used : (2ZnO.3B 2 O 3 .3.5H 2 O) Zinc Borate was used as a fire retardant, which supply by Akrochem corporation. Antimony Trioxide (Sb 2 O 3 ): produced by NL Industries with particle size ( 1µ ). Matrix material: Araldite resin (GY240 ), this resin was supplied by Huntsman Advanced Materials (Switzerland) GmbH. Reinforcing material: Woven roving ( 45 0 carbon - Kevlar fibers we re used as a reinforcing material, t he co m pany s upp li ed t he s e fi be r s i s H y fi l lt d . , U K . Preparation of Test Specimens: Specimen of thermal erosion test have a square shape, with dimensions (100×100×10mm). These Specimens consist of two layers: Fire reta rdant mate rial layer with (4mm) thickness , and composite material layer with (6mm) thickness. Thermal Erosion Test : Oxyacetylene torch Flame with temperature (3000 º C) was used in this test. The system (contains fire retardant material and composite materi al) was exposed to this flame under different exposure intervals ( 10, 20mm). Surface temperature method used here to calculate the amount of heat transmitted through fire retardant material and composite material. A transformation card (AD) which called Th ermal monitoring and recording system ( Figure - 2 ) was used to observed and saved temperatures with time (in seconds) . Figure - 2 Thermal monitoring and recording system Results and Discussion Figure - 3 represents the thermal erosion test f or composite material with retardant surface layer at exposed interval (10mm), the temperature of the opposite surface to the torch begins to increase with increasing the time of exposition to the flame. Zinc borate will form a glassy char at high temperat ures that prevents flame propagation; it also releases water of hydration from its chemical structure. Therefore, the substrate (composite material) will protect and the fire spread will decrease 8 . This process of flame retardancy will be increased by addi tion antimony trioxide to zinc borate where zinc borate is a synergist with this oxide, so the combined ingredient will have better flame resistance than separate materials would have. When added (10 %) from antimony trioxide to Zinc Borate ,the phase trans formations happened in internal structure of this oxide which with zinc borate enhanced flame retardancy of composite materials , and this retardant action increased with increased antimony trioxide content to (15%, 20%, 25% and 30%) 9 . The improveme nt in flame retardancy will increased with increased exposed interval to (20mm) as shown in f igure - 4 . As a result, when the exposed interval to flame increased to (20mm), the time necessary to break down of fire retardant layer will increase and the combus tion gaseous will reduced and there will be a less plastic to burn due to water of hydration and protected glassy coating layer comes from zinc borate, and this protection will improves with addition ( 15% , 20 %, 25% and 30 %) 10 . This process will rise the time of break down for zinc borate - antimony trioxide layer and substrate composite material 11 . From figures, the better results obtained with large exposed interval and large percentage from protective layer which is antimony trioxide (30%). Figure - 3 Exposed Interval (10 mm) Figure - 4 Exposed Interval (20 mm) Thermal Monitoring and Recording System Time, sec Surface Temperature ,ºC 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 4 0 1 6 0 1 8 0 Zinc Borate Zinc Borate + 10%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 20%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 30%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Bor ate + 40%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 50%Sb 2 O 3 Time, sec Surface Temperature ,ºC Zinc Borate Zinc Borate + 10%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 20%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 30%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 40%Sb 2 O 3 Zinc Borate + 50%Sb 2 O 3 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2 0 2 1 2 2 2 3 2 4 2 5 2 6 2 7 2 8 2 9 3 0 0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 4 0 1 6 0 1 8 0 Research Journal of Recent Sciences _____ _ _ _ _______________________________ ______________ _ ________ ISSN 2277 - 2502 Vol. 2 ( ISC - 2012 ), 38 - 40 (201 3 ) Res.J.Recent.Sci International Science Congress Association 40 Conclusion Flame resistance of composite material will enhanced with addition retardant layer from zinc borate ,and this action will improved when added antimony trioxi de to zinc borate with different percentages and forming hybrid retardant material. The resistance to flame spread will increased with increasing of exposed interval . The flame retardancy is increased as the flame temperature is decreased. The mixing ratio of 3:1 (zinc borate: antimony tri - oxide) is the optimum mixing ratio which is obtaining the best result because after this percentage the retardant layer broken easily. References 1. Hatakeyama Tatsuko and Hatakeyama Hyoe, Thermal Properties of Green Polym ers and Biocomposites, Springer Science + Business Media, Inc., (2005) 2. Joshua L. Jurs, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic Organization Operations Planning, Office of Aviation Research and Development Washington , DC, Final Report, April (2007) 3. Al - Mosawi Ali I., Rijab Mustafa A., Salaman Ali J., Alwash Naser A. and Aziz Naglaa S., Flammability behavior of composite mixed with retardant agents , Applied Mechanics and Materials , 186 , 129 - 131 (2012) 4. 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