Study on the effect of the density and incorporation amount of Coal Fly ash hollow microspheres on the fire performance of epoxy resin. (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Jiaqian; Zhang, Xiaomin; Wang, Yachao; Wang, Zhuang; Li, Yahang
• Is Part Of: Materials today communications. Volume 34(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: Coal Fly ash hollow microspheres -- Epoxy resin -- Fire safety -- Density; Materials science -- Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mtcomm.2022.105213
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2352-4928

Abstract

Abstract: Coal Fly ash hollow microspheres (CSs), owning the potential for flame retardancy, are currently being researched to reduce the fire hazard of polymers. In this article, a series of Coal Fly ash hollow microspheres/epoxy resin (CSs/EP) composites have been fabricated. The effects of CSs density and incorporation amount on the flame retardancy and thermal stability of the CSs/EP system were investigated by cone calorimeter test (CC) and thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. The CC results demonstrated that the fire safety of CSs/EP composites first increased and then decreased when the CSs densities were 1.90 g/cm 3, 1.83 g/cm 3, 1.77 g/cm 3, 1.70 g/cm 3, and 1.65 g/cm 3 . When CSs was added in amount of 2 wt%, 4 wt%, 6 wt%, 8 wt%, and 10 wt%, the fire safety of CSs/EP composites also increased initially and then decreased. Compared with pure EP, the FRI of CSs/EP composites containing the CSs density of 1.77 g/cm 3 and incorporation amount of 8 wt% was enhanced to 2.69 times, the FGI was reduced by 38%, and the FPI was increased by 56%. The phenomenon corresponds to the TG results, and the addition of CSs did reduce the initial decomposition temperature of CSs/EP (1.77 g/cm 3, 8 wt%), while increasing the carbon residue. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) give positive evidence that the CSs/EP composite (1.77 g/cm 3, 8 wt%) has a continuous and complete corrugated char residue layer. In terms of mechanical properties, the flexural strength of CSs/EP increased initially and then dropped as the decrease of density and the increase of CSs incorporation amount. Graphical Abstract: ga1 Highlights: The density of 1.77 g/cm 3 and the doping of 8% of modified CSs gave the EP polymer enhanced flame retardancy. The flame retardant mechanism of the modified CSs-doped polymers was described. The mechanism of the effect of density and doping amount of CSs on the flame retardant properties of EP is described.