Dec. 16, 2015

Iranian researchers from Kashan University succeeded in the production of laboratorial samples of a type of polymer that has high resistance to heat and flame concurrently.
Results of the research have applications in textile, aerospace, automobile manufacturing and home appliance industries.
Cellulose acetate is a commonly-used material in various applications such as textile industry. The substance has desirable properties such as high toughness and impact resistance, good transparency and perfect tonality. However, relatively low resistance to heat and flame are among the most important limitations for this polymer to become an important and applicable polymer.

Researchers have tried in this research to increase thermal and flame resistance of the substance by producing cellulose acetate nanocomposite. The mechanism of the nanocomposite is to slow down the flame. This way, even if the polymer does not resist to huge and permanent flame, it will slow down its emission and will provide more time to rescue people and extinguish the fire.
Antimony oxide nanoparticles have been synthesized in this research through sonochemical method, and the effect of various parameters, including concentration and ratio, have been studied on the structure of nanoparticles.
Nanoparticles were added to the polymer bed as well as carbon nanotubes after being synthesized and being confirmed by using electron microscopes and carrying out spectrometry tests. Thermal gravimetry test was used to study the effect of thermal resistance. In addition, some tests such as UL-94 were carried out to study the flame resistance of the nanocomposite.