Utilizing leather fibers from industrial wastes as bio-filler to improve flame retardancy in polypropylene.

Combining buffing leather fibers from industrial waste streams with ammonium polyphosphate and bentonite clay is proposed as a flame-retardant additive for polypropylene. The paper addresses how they can be processed into attractive composites with the desired mechanical properties. Buffing leather fibers function as a multifunctional bio-filler and as a synergist for the flame retardant, resulting in fire retardancy successful enough to increase the oxygen index (LOI) by up to 7 vol.-% and to achieve a V0 UL 94 classification. Impressively reduced heat release rates are obtained in the cone calorimeter at 50 kW/m² irradiation; for instance, the maximum average rate heat evolved (MARHE) drops from 765 to below 200 kW m⁻². The synergistic effects are quantified and shown to be very strong for LOI and MARHE. This work opens the door to use waste buffing leather fibers as a promising multifunctional and synergistic bio-filler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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