Synergistic modification of hydrolyzed keratin-based rigid polyurethane foam with zinc stannate and aluminum hypophosphite to improve its thermal stability and flame retardant properties

Abstract Zinc stannate (ZS) was prepared for flame retardant modified rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF). The flame retardancy and thermal stability performance of the modified RPUFs were investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), cone calorimeter (CONE), smoke density (Ds) test and thermogravimetric (TG) differential thermal analyzer. The LOI of RPUF5-7.5 AL/7.5 ZS with 5 wt% hydrolyzed keratin (HK), 7.5 wt% aluminum hypophosphate (AL) and 7.5 wt% ZS increased from 26.1 % to 27.2 %. At 50 kW/m 2 radiant intensity, RPUF5-7.5 AL/7.5 ZS had the lowest peak heat release rate (PHRR) and heat release rate (THR), which were 108.17 kW/m 2 and 2.56 MJ/m 2 , respectively. In addition, RPUF5-7.5 AL/7.5 ZS had the highest initial decomposition temperature of 191.24 °C and the largest activation energy (E) of 148.16 kJ/mol. Under flameless condition, the maximum Ds of RPUF5-7.5 AL/7.5 ZS was 31.25, and its light transmittance was also the highest, i.e., 57.89 %. Therefore, ZS/AL was selected as a synergistic flame retardant system to modify the RPUF, and promotes the development of high-performance building materials.