Thermal Decomposition and Flame retardancy of Functional Polyester/Banana Peduncle fibre and Aluminum Hydroxide particle Hybrid Composites.

Polymers which take up 80% of the organic industry are known for their high flammability with the production of heat, corrosive toxic gases, and smoke. The need to improve the fire resistance properties of polymer and natural fibre composites lead to the development of functional novel polyester/ aluminum hydroxide (AH) particles- Banana peduncle fibre (BPF) hybrid composites. The composites were produced by varying the ratio of AH:BPF from 0:0, 2.5:2.5, 5:5, 7.5:7.5 and 10:10wt%. The thermal and fire properties were determined. The incorporated AH played a crucial role in improving the thermal stability of the composites by acting as effective physical barriers against the thermal decomposition in the polymer composite. There was maximum, endothermic peak, shift to higher temperature, as the weight percent addition of AH was increased, which reflected in improved thermal stability of the composites. This work shows that addition of 10wt%AH:10wt%BPF to polyester composite retarded its burning by delaying the ignition time by 22.94%, the end of burning time by 13.15% and reduction of the total heat release rate by 29.68%. Keywords : Aluminum hydroxide (AH); polyester; flame retardancy;  banana peduncle fibres (BPF). DOI : 10.7176/CPER/62-07 Publication date: February 29 th 2020