Title
Siloxane-functionalized cellulose acetate as environmentally benign material for potential flame retardant applications
Authors
SAMMAIAH THOTA JAYANT KUMAR and RAVI MOSURKAL

Received October 5, 2015
Published Volume 51 Issue 1-2 January-February
Keywords cellulose acetate, cellulose functionalization, flame retardant materials, polysiloxanes

Abstract
Of late, there have been many restrictions on the usage of certain types of halogenated flame retardant materials. These restrictions have been put into place because of the release of toxic gases that are detrimental to humans and environment during combustion. Therefore, finding alternative environmentally safe flame retardant (FR) materials is imperative. Herein we report the synthesis, characterization and thermal studies of environmentally benign polysiloxane-grafted cellulose acetate materials as halogen-free flame retardant materials. These novel materials were synthesized from the cellulose acetate and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared (FTIR ATR) spectroscopic techniques. Thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that polysiloxane-grafted cellulose (PDMS-CA) has twice the char yield of control cellulose acetate at 600 °C. Furthermore, pyrolysis-combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) showed PDMS-CA has significantly lower total heat release capacity (205.6 J/g-K) compared to the control cellulose acetate (338.0 J/g-K).