A machine learning tool for future prediction of heat release capacity of in-situ flame retardant hybrid Mg(OH)2-Epoxy nanocomposites

In this work, the fire behavior of a sol-gel in-situ hybrid Mg(OH)2-epoxy nanocomposite was investigated and an artificial neural network-based system built on a fully connected feed-forward artificial neural network was developed to predict its heat release capacity. The nanocomposite containing only ∼5 wt% loading of Mg(OH)2 promoted a remarkable decrease in heat release capacity (∼34%) measured by pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry and in peak of heat release rate (∼37%), and heat release rate (∼29%), as assessed by cone calorimetry, as well as a significant decrease of total smoke release and smoke extinction area about 22 and 5%, respectively, indicating the suitability of Mg(OH)2 as an effective smoke suppressant. The proposed machine learning approach may be used as a promising alternative for a cost- and time-saving prediction of the fire performances of novel flame retardant polymer-based nanocomposites.