Comparative Studies on Thermal, Mechanical, and Flame Retardant Properties of PBT Nanocomposites via Different Oxidation State Phosphorus-Containing Agents Modified Amino-CNTs

San-E Zhu; Li-Li Wang; Hao Chen; Wei Yang; Anthony Chun-Yin Yuen; Timothy Bo-Yuan Chen; Cheng Luo; Wen-Mei Bi; En-Zhu Hu; Jian Zhang; Jing-Yu Si; Hong-Dian Lu; Kun-Hong Hu; Qing Nian Chan; Guan Heng Yeoh

doi:10.3390/nano8020070

Comparative Studies on Thermal, Mechanical, and Flame Retardant Properties of PBT Nanocomposites via Different Oxidation State Phosphorus-Containing Agents Modified Amino-CNTs

Nanomaterials (Basel). 2018 Jan 26;8(2):70. doi: 10.3390/nano8020070.

Authors

San-E Zhu¹, Li-Li Wang², Hao Chen³, Wei Yang^{4

5}, Anthony Chun-Yin Yuen⁶, Timothy Bo-Yuan Chen⁷, Cheng Luo⁸, Wen-Mei Bi⁹, En-Zhu Hu¹⁰, Jian Zhang¹¹, Jing-Yu Si¹², Hong-Dian Lu¹³, Kun-Hong Hu¹⁴, Qing Nian Chan¹⁵, Guan Heng Yeoh¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. zhuse@hfuu.edu.cn.
² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. wangll@hfuu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. ch961006@163.com.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. yangwei@hfuu.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. yangwei@hfuu.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. c.y.yuen@unsw.edu.au.
⁷ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. luo828421@163.com.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. mmas418093@163.com.
⁹ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. huez@hfuu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. sijyo@hfuu.edu.cn.
¹¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Anhui Agricultural of University, Hefei 230036, China. jianzhang@ahau.edu.cn.
¹² Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. hdlu@ustc.edu.cn.
¹³ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. hukunhong@163.com.
¹⁴ Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, Hefei University, 99 Jinxiu Avenue, Hefei 230601, China. c.y.yuen@unsw.edu.au.
¹⁵ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. qing.chan@unsw.edu.au.
¹⁶ School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia. g.yeoh@unsw.edu.au.

Abstract

High-performance poly(1,4-butylene terephthalate) (PBT) nanocomposites have been developed via the consideration of phosphorus-containing agents and amino-carbon nanotube (A-CNT). One-pot functionalization method has been adopted to prepare functionalized CNTs via the reaction between A-CNT and different oxidation state phosphorus-containing agents, including chlorodiphenylphosphine (DPP-Cl), diphenylphosphinic chloride (DPP(O)-Cl), and diphenyl phosphoryl chloride (DPP(O₃)-Cl). These functionalized CNTs, DPP(O_x)-A-CNTs (x = 0, 1, 3), were, respectively, mixed with PBT to obtain the CNT-based polymer nanocomposites through a melt blending method. Scanning electron microscope observations demonstrated that DPP(O_x)-A-CNT nanoadditives were homogeneously distributed within PBT matrix compared to A-CNT. The incorporation of DPP(O_x)-A-CNT improved the thermal stability of PBT. Moreover, PBT/DPP(O₃)-A-CNT showed the highest crystallization temperature and tensile strength, due to the superior dispersion and interfacial interactions between DPP(O₃)-A-CNT and PBT. PBT/DPP(O)-A-CNT exhibited the best flame retardancy resulting from the excellent carbonization effect. The radicals generated from decomposed polymer were effectively trapped by DPP(O)-A-CNT, leading to the reduction of heat release rate, smoke production rate, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide release during cone calorimeter tests.

Keywords: carbon nanotubes; flame retardancy; mechanical properties; polymer-matrix nanocomposites.