Comparative Cone calorimetric analysis of the fire retardant properties of natural and synthetic additives in banana peduncle fibre reinforced polyester composites.

Abstract This research investigated the Cone calorimetric analysis of the fire retardant properties of cow horn ash particles (CHAp) bio-additives and aluminium trihydrate (AH) in banana peduncle fibre reinforced polyester composites. Cone calorimeter was used to obtain combustion information of CHAp and AH control formulated composites.  The analysis presented similar fire properties with CHAp incorporated composites exhibiting delayed ignition time of 25%, increased end of burning time of 14.24 per cent, and reduced total heat release rate of 9.07% for the developed composites. The developed BPF/CHAp/polyester produced composites of justified fire retardancy, which would find relevance in the engineering industries. CHAp incorporated in the developed composites presented valid fire-retardant properties compared with AH fire retardant additive composites used as the control and would suffice as an alternative to the expensive, non-environmental friendly fire retardants.