Boosting flame retardancy of epoxy resin composites through incorporating ultrathin nickel phenylphosphate nanosheets

Ultrathin nickel phenylphosphate (NiPP) nanosheets with layered structure are successfully synthesized through a mixed solvothermal method. The results indicate that NiPP is Ni(O3PC6H5)center dot H2O and has good thermal stability. To ameliorate the thermal stability and flame ratardancy of epoxy resin (EP), EP/NiPP nanocomposites are prepared by incorporating NiPP into EP matrix. The results show that adding NiPP can availably enhance thermal stability at high temperature due to the remarkable catalytic char performance of NiPP, and the residues yield of EP/NiPP nanocomposites with 6 wt% NiPP is 24.1% while the pure EP had only 14.2% at 700 degrees C. In contrast with pure EP, the peak heat release rate, total heat release, smoke production rate, CO production, and CO2 production of EP/6wt%NiPP nanocomposites reduced by 35.2%, 20.2%, 27.1%, 45.8%, and 35.5%. The synergistic effect of catalytic char performance and fire retardancy of NiPP make the EP/NiPP nanocomposites possess prominent flame retardancy, smoke suppression, and thermal stability.

Automated summary

The ultrathin nickel phenylphosphate (NiPP) nanosheets have good thermal stability and are successfully incorporated into epoxy resin (EP) matrix to enhance thermal stability and flame retardancy. The addition of NiPP significantly reduces heat release rate, total heat release, smoke production rate, CO production, and CO2 production in EP/NiPP nanocomposites.