Jinggang Gai

Synergistic Effect of Organic Vermiculite on the Flame Retardancy and Thermal Stability of Intumescent Polypropylene Composites

Organic vermiculite (OVMT) prepared from vermiculite (VMT), with high aspect ratio and orderly arranged platelets intercalated by octadecyl trimethyl ammonum bromide (OTAB), was used as a synergistic agent on the flame retardancy of a polypropylene/intumescent flame retardant (PP/IFR) system. The flammability and thermal stability of PP/IFR/OVMT composites were investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 testing, cone calorimetry tests, and thermogravometric analysis. The results of LOI and UL-94 testing showed that low loading of OVMT improved the flame retardancy and retarded dripping for PP/IFR composites. OVMT, with 1% loading, increased the char residue of PP/IFR composites and could act as an effective additive for improvement in flame retardancy, which was confirmed by the cone data. The char layer morphological structures observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that OVMT with 1% loading can promote formation of a continuous and compact intumescent char layer. Raman spectroscopy results indicated that the OVMT or its pyrolytic products led to a decrease in size of the carbonaceous micro-domain during combustion, resulting in formation of more compact charred layers. Thus, OVMT with 1% loading showed a synergistic effect with IFR in the combustion of the PP/IFR composites.

Investigation on Changes in the Miscibility, Morphology, Rheology and Mechanical Behavior of Melt Processed Cellulose Acetate through Adding Polyethylene Glycol as a Plasticizer

ABSTRACT Polyethylene glycol (PEG 200) was used as an eco-friendly plasticizer for preparing thermoplastic cellulose acetate (CA) by a twin-screw extruder. The plasticization efficiency of PEG 200 was compared with that of triethyl citrate (TEC). The interaction between polyethylene glycol and CA was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Both FT-IR and DSC proved that PEG 200 could form stable and strong hydrogen bonds with CA molecules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the CA granules were completely disrupted during the extrusion and a continuous and homogeneous phase was observed. The PEG 200-plasticized cellulose acetate (PCA) showed greater viscosity reduction than TEC-plasticized cellulose acetate (TCA) at the same additive levels. Furthermore, the Izod-notched impact strength and elongation at break of PCA were higher than those of TCA. The tensile strength, Izod-notched impact strength and elongation at break of PCA containing 25 wt% PEG 200 reached 31.6 MPa, 20.9 KJ/m2 and 80.5%, respectively, as compared to 39.2 MPa, 10.9 KJ/m2 and 32.3% for 25 wt% TEC plasticized CA.