Polydopamine modified ammonium polyphosphate modified shape memory water-borne epoxy composites with photo-responsive flame retardant property

Shape memory epoxy (SMEP) is a high performance shape memory polymer; however, is extremely flammable which severely restricts its applications. In this work, a novel polydopamine modified ammonium polyphosphate (PDA@APP) flame retardant was prepared to improve the flame retardant and enrich the response method of SMEP. Through flame retardancy test confirmed that the flame retarding properties of the PDA@APP/WEP composites significantly improved than the APP/WEP composites, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) values of the APP/SMEP and the PDA@APP/SMEP samples increased by 29.8% and 32.2%, respectively. Moreover, the PDA@APP/WEP composites had excellent light response shape-memory performance. Interestingly, the PDA@APP/WEP treated polyester fabric exhibited excellent light crease recovery performance and excellent flame retardant property. This work develops a new method for fabric crease recovery and will help broaden the application of WEP and its composites.

Automated summary

The use of polydopamine modified ammonium polyphosphate flame retardant improved the flame retardant properties of shape memory epoxy polymer and enriched its response method. The novel composites showed excellent flame retardant performance, light response shape memory, and great crease recovery properties for polyester fabric, expanding the application scope of WEP and its composites.