Novel flame-retarded polyester composites using cow horn ash particles.

A novel flame-retarded polymer composites using cow horn ash particles (CHAp) were investigated. The cow horn ash particles were varied in the polyester from 5 to 20 wt% with 5 wt% interval. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and cone calorimeter test were used to determine the flame-retarded properties of the developed composites. Weight of 5.28, 5.285, 8.47, 11.64, and 17.67% were left at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt% CHAp. Twenty percent of the weight remained at around 500 °C as the weight percentage addition of CHAp increased up to 20 wt%. The introduction of CHAp particles to polyester induces protective barriers against thermal decomposition and retards the thermal decomposition of polyester/CHAp composite. This work shows that at 20 wt%, CHAp can serve as flame retard in the sense that the CHAp delays the ignition time by 39.93% of the composite and the end of burning time by 30.59% and reduced the total heat release rate by 34.07%. Waste cow horn can be used as flame retardant to polymer composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]