One-pot synthesis of a novel s-triazine-based hyperbranched charring foaming agent and its enhancement on flame retardancy and water resistance of polypropylene

A novel hyperbranched charring foaming agent (HCFA), successfully prepared via an A(2)B(3) approach with about 97% yield, was combined with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) to flame-retard polypropylene (PP) at a 30 wt% loading. The results of thermogravimetric analyses of various PP samples in air and nitrogen showed that the HCFA/APP system could effectively improve the thermal and thermal-oxidative stabilities of the char residues. And PP3 with a 3/1 mass ratio of APP to HCFA left the highest amount of char residue at 800 C. The studies of their flammability revealed that the addition of HCFA can make great contribution to the increase of the limiting oxygen index and the UL-94 VU rating, and the decrease of the heat release rate (HRR) and fire growth index (FGI) of PP/APP/HCFA composites relative to PP with 30 wt% APP. The investigation of their water resistance demonstrated that the PP composites with a mass ratio of APP to HCFA being between 3:1 and 1:1 still obtained a UL-94 V-0 rating after 168 h soaking in hot water, due to the delayed migration of intumescent flame retardant from the complexation between hydrophilic APP and hydrophobic HCFA. Besides, their mechanical properties were also investigated. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.