Preparation of phosphorus-containing phenolic resin and its application in epoxy resin as a curing agent and flame retardant

For the sake of improving the flame retardancy of epoxy resin (EP), a novel phosphorus-containing phenolic resin (PPR) synthesized in our group instead of conventional phenolic resin (PR) was used to cure EP in the present research. The curing processes and the corresponding crosslinking structure and mechanical performance were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. Because of the introduction of flame-retarding elements including P and Si, PPR exhibited higher charring capacity in the condensed phase, which is helpful to construct a char layer of higher quality. Correspondingly, PPR-cured EP displayed remarkably improved flame retardance as compared to conventional PR-cured EP through the related evaluations including limiting oxygen index, vertical burning test, and microscale combustion colorimeter. As a multifunction agent, it is believable that PPR possesses potential commercial value to prepare flame-retardant EP with high performance.