Thermal oxidative degradation kinetics of novel intumescent flame-retardant polypropylene composites

Novel intumescent flame-retardant polypropylene (PP) composites were prepared based on a char-forming agent (CFA) and silica-gel microencapsulated APP (Si-MCAPP). The thermal oxidative degradation kinetics of pure PP and the flame-retardant PP composites were investigated using Kissinger method, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa method and Coats-Redfern method. The results show that the value of the activation energy of the samples has the same sequence that obtained by three methods. The sample with CFA/Si-MCAPP = 1:3 has highest activation energy, and pure PP has the lowest activation energy. The reaction orders of pure PP and flame-retardant PP composites are also calculated by Coats-Redfern method. The results of thermal oxidative degradation kinetics of flame-retardant PP composites provide useful date for understanding the flame-retardant behaviours of novel intumescent flame-retardant PP composites with different intumescent flame-retardant system.