Nanoparticles of polydopamine for improving mechanical and flame-retardant properties of an epoxy resin. (1st April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yang, Wenmu; Wu, Shuying; Yang, Wei; Chun-Yin Yuen, Anthony; Zhou, Yang; Yeoh, Guan; Boyer, Cyrille; Wang, Chun H.
• Is Part Of: Composites. Number 186(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-04-01
• Subjects: Nanocomposites -- Polydopamine -- Flammability -- Mechanical properties; Composite materials -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Composite materials; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 620.118
• DOI: 10.1016/j.compositesb.2020.107828
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-8368

Abstract

Abstract: A bio-flame retardant filler was synthesized via the self-polymerization of dopamine hydrochloride in alkaline condition, yielding nano-sized polydopamine (nano-PDA) particles ranging between 50 and 100 nm in diameters. Adding a small amount (2 wt%) of the nano-PDA particles into an epoxy can remarkably reduce the value of peak heat release rate by 53.6%, exceeding the performance aluminum trihydroxide (ATH) particles at 10 wt%. The significant improvement in flame retardancy at a relatively low loading of PDA has been found to originate from several key mechanisms including radical scavenging, higher char yield, and production of CO2 . Furthermore, the addition of nano-PDA in the epoxy resin increased the tensile strength by ~6%. In contrast, the addition of common flame retardant, such as ATH, to achieve the same increase in flame retardancy of epoxy would reduce the tensile strength by 22%. This improvement in mechanical properties is attributed to the better bonding between PDA particles with epoxy than ATH with epoxy.