Chapter 12 – Nanotechnology safety in the marine industry

Abstract

Polymer matrix composites (PMCs) have been used extensively in the marine industry because of their attractive properties, including light weight, high stiffness-to-weight and strength-to-weight ratios, ease of installation on the field, high overall durability, and less susceptibility to environmental deterioration than conventional materials. However, due to their organic nature, PMCs will degrade, decompose, and yield smoke and toxic gases when subjected to fire, leading to catastrophic consequences. Therefore, the primary focus of this chapter is on the fire safety issues of PMCs and methods to improve the fire safety for marine applications. To improve these materials’ flame-retardant performance, traditional flame retardants are reviewed, including halogenated, intumescent, and intrinsic flame retardants. The flame-retardant application of nanomaterials such as nanoclay, carbon nanotubes, and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane is then introduced. Finally, the concept of hybrid flame-retardant nanocomposite coating is presented. It is concluded that a desirable flame-retardant coating system should have such necessary characteristics, including low thermal conductivity in the thickness direction to prevent heat transfer, high in-planar thermal conductivity to dissipate heat as soon as possible, high thermal stability and heat capacity, low heat absorption, and compact char structure to prevent mass loss.