Preparation of pillared layered antimony hydroxide and its flame retardancy in thermoplastic polyurethane

In this article, a pillared layered antimony hydroxide (Sb-LH) material has been prepared by the hydrothermal method. X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope results showed that Sb-LH was synthesized successfully. Then Sb-LH was added into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to investigate the effect on flame retardancy and smoke suppression by cone calorimeter test, limiting oxygen index, smoke density test and thermalgravimetric analysis (TGA). Compared with pure TPU, the peak heat release rate and total heat release of TPU composites filled with 2 mass% Sb-LH were reduced by 56.1% and 28.3%, respectively. Among all TPU composites, TPU3 (1.5 mass% Sb-LH loading) had the best smoke suppression. Meanwhile, Sb-LH can remarkably improve the char yield of TPU composites with Lewis acid catalysis obtained by TGA results.