Effective halogen-free flame retardancy for a monocomponent polyfunctional epoxy using an oligomeric organophosphorus compound

Epoxy-based resins are commonly used for applications including adhesives, insulating materials for electrical devices as well as for fibre-reinforced composites in the transportation sector. The growing importance of modern epoxy resins for the manufacture of high-performance fibre-reinforced composites is partly reflecting the potential to be tailored for the use in liquid composite moulding (LCM) approaches such as resin transfer moulding (RTM) that are rapidly gaining a widespread acceptance in the aerospace or automotive industry. However, applications in mass transport systems especially are sensitive to fire, smoke and toxicity (FST) aspects in a fire scenario owing to the inherently confined operating conditions. Therefore, the use of matrix materials that delay ignition or rapidly self-extinguish after ignition and show a low toxicity upon burning are highly desired for such modern-day composite applications.