Curcumin derivative intercalated expandable graphite: Imparting flame retardancy, anti-dripping and smoke suppression for polylactic acid composites

With the depletion of petrochemical resources and the escalating severity of white pollution, replacing petrochemical resources with bio-based resources aligns with sustainable development strategy. In this work, a novel biomass flame retardant (PCDAC) derived from curcumin was intercalated into expandable graphite (EG) to construct an intrinsically intumescent flame retardant system (EG@PCDAC), which was then melt blended with polylactic acid (PLA) to fabricate flame retardant, anti-dripping and smoke suppressive PLA composite (PLA/EG@PCDAC). The residual char of PLA/EG@PCDAC was 14.27 wt% under N 2 atmosphere, while reaching UL-94 V–0 rating. Furthermore, the peak heat release rate and total heat release of PLA/EG@PCDAC were reduced by 46.95 % and 19.02 % compared with original PLA, and the total smoke production and peak smoke production rate also decreased by 20.74 % and 72.09 %, respectively. This work offered green and feasible inspiration for exploring biomass flame retardants and renewable PLA-based functional materials.