Improving flame-retardant, thermal, and mechanical properties of an epoxy using halogen-free fillers

Various nano- and micro-sized fillers can be integrated into polymers to enhance their flame-retardant performance. In this work, a diglycidyl-ether bisphenol A epoxy was used as the matrix and nanostructured silica aerogel (AG) and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) microparticles were investigated as fillers to improve the flame-retardant and thermal properties of the epoxy. The anti-flame, thermal, and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated for different volume fractions of filler particles. It was found that APP decreased the burning rate while significantly improving the thermal stability. To investigate the flame resistant properties of combined AG and APP, an optimized ratio of AG and APP was added to the epoxy, leading to a stable flame-retardant epoxy with a low thermal conductivity and improved glass transition temperature (T-g). The synergy between the AG and APP in composite samples resulted in an interesting burning behavior where sample core was relatively less deteriorated compared with the samples containing only APP or AG. This was attributed to the decrease of thermal conductivity due to the addition of AG. Lastly, samples containing APP showed the highest limiting oxygen index percentage and it was found that only small amounts of APP are required to make the epoxy flame-retardant.