New fire-resistant epoxy thermosets: nonisothermal kinetic study and flammability behavior

New fire-resistant thermosets are prepared based on a bisphenol A-epoxy resin which is thermally crossl inked in the presence of dicyandiamide and two phenols containing phosphorus atoms. The thermosets are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC) tests. A nonisothermal kinetic study is performed based on processing of TGA data applying the method proposed by Vyazovkin. The lifetime prediction analyses establish that the phosphorus-containing polymers could be used at a constant temperature of 200 degrees C up to 200-780 min. The MCC tests reveal an improvement of the flammability behavior, as well as a significant heat release capacity reduction for phosphorus-containing samples compared to the sample which has no phosphorus component.