Intrinsic flame-retardant epoxy resin composite containing schiff base structure with satisfied flame retardancy and mechanical properties
Maoyong Zhi, Xiong Yang, Bing‐Jian Su, Shan Yue, Quanyi Liu, Xiantao Chen
Abstract
To solve the non-renewable and flammability of traditional epoxy composites, a new type of intrinsic flame-retardant epoxy (VH/GF) composite was fabricated from vanillin-based epoxy resin (VH) and glass fibre (GF). The T5% of VH/GF was higher than that of DGEBA/GF, and CY800 of VH/GF reached above 84 wt.%. VH/GF obtained a limiting oxygen index as high as above 90% and passed UL-94 V-0 rating. Compared with DGEBA/GF, the total heat release, total smoke production, maximal smoke density of VH/GF reduced by more than 72%, 91% and 81%, respectively. The physical barrier of glass fibre and excellent char formation ability of VH endowed VH/GF composite with good condensed phase flame-retardant effect. When the mass ratio of matrix and glass fibre was 5:5, the storage modulus and glass transition temperature of VH/GF were 6.34 GPa and 205 °C, and its tensile strength and elongation at break were 348.36 MPa and 4.01%. This work provides new research insights for bio-based epoxy resin in high-performance fire safety composites.