Flame retardancy of organoclay and phosphorous on modified epoxy resin
Phosphorous flame retardants (PFRs) are common halogen-free flame retardants. However, the flame retardancy of PFRs has not been fully exploited.
In a study, the synergistic flame retardant effect of a typical phosphorous compound, 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO), and organoclay on epoxy is studied.
Halogen-free EPs with higher flame retardancy
Results show that the peak of heat release rate (pHRR) and smoke production rate of modified epoxy resin (EP) with both 2.0 wt % phosphorus and 4.0 wt % organoclay are only 40% and 46% of that of neat EP resin, respectively, while the sole use of 2.0 wt % phosphorus only decrease the pHRR to 59% of that of neat EP resin. The structure and thermal decomposition behaviour of as-prepared nanocomposites are analysed, and a synergistic flame retardant mechanism is proposed. This investigation opens a new approach to obtain halogen-free EPs with higher flame retardancy and better overall properties than the EPs loaded with DOPO only.
The study is published in: Applied Polymer, Volume 133, Issue 18, May 10, 2016.
