Polyurea has attracted extensive attention from researchers and engineers in the field of blast and impact protection due to its excellent quasi-static mechanical properties and dynamic mechanical properties. Its mechanical properties and energy absorption capacity have been tuned by means of formulation optimization, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation and the addition of reinforcing materials. Owing to the special molecular structure of polyurea, the mechanism of polyurea protection against blasts and impacts is the simultaneous effect of multiple properties. For different substrates and structures, polyurea needs to provide different performance characteristics, including adhesion, hardness, breaking elongation, etc., depending on the characteristics of the load to which it is subjected. The current article reviews relevant publications in the field of polyurea blast and impact protection, including material optimization, protection mechanisms and applications in blast and impact protection.

In this investigation, the aging behaviors of polyurea coating exposed to marine atmosphere for 150 days were studied and the mechanism was analyzed. The influences on surface and mechanical properties, surface morphology, thermal stability behavior, as well as chemical changes evolution of the coating were investigated. By attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR–FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), changes in the chemical properties of polyurea coatings before (PCB) and after 150 d (PCA) of aging were analyzed, and emphasis was given to the effect of aging on functional group change, the hydrogen bonding behavior, and phase separated morphology. The results displayed prominent chain scission during aging, such as N–H, C=O, and C–O–C and the hydrogen bonded urea carbonyl content showed a decrease trend. The relative content of soft and hard segments showed a significant change, which increased the degree of phase separation.

Polymer matrix is vulnerable to fire hazards and needs to add flame retardants to enhance its performance and make its application scenarios more extensive. At this stage, it is more necessary to add multiple flame-retardant elements and build a multi-component synergistic system. Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) have been studied for nearly three decades since their introduction. MOFs are known for their structural advantages but have only been applied to flame-retardant polymers for a relatively short period of time. In this paper, we review the development of MOFs utilized as flame retardants and analyze the flame-retardant mechanisms in the gas phase and condensed phase from the original MOF materials, modified MOF composites, and MOF-derived composites as flame retardants, respectively. The effects of carbon-based materials, phosphorus-based materials, nitrogen-based materials, and biomass on the flame-retardant properties of polymers are discussed in the context of MOFs. The construction of MOF multi-structured flame retardants is also introduced, and a variety of MOF-based flame retardants with different morphologies are shown to broaden the ideas for subsequent research.