Flammability of the Disperse-Filled Polymer Composites

Abstract

For the purpose of fire safe construction it is necessary to develop and investigate effects of fillers to flammability of building materials, including composite materials with polymer matrix. In present work we demonstrate the results of such investigation. We have examined influence of chemical composition, amount of mineral fillers to flammability, smoke-forming ability and limiting oxygen index of building materials based on different polymer binders. The experimental data indicate that the main parameter which determines the influence of mineral fillers on the flammability of composites is a specific heat absorbed by the filler. The dependence between limiting oxygen index and specific heat of mineral fillers is revealed for composites with epoxy matrices. This dependence is simple and beneficial for practical use.

Fire-Resiting Composites Based on Polymer Matrix

“…Low-molecular organic compounds increase the combustibility and Dm of EMC. Industrial grades of phosphate plasticizers increase the LOI and Tsi of epoxy binders from 22.1% and 470 0 C up to 23.1-24.5% and 500-510 ° C, respectively, reduce the qcr value from 11.7 to 9.2-10.7 kW/m 2 [20]. The low efficiency of phosphate plasticizers is due to their relatively high combustibility: LOI of plasticizers is 23.1-29.9%, while LOI of ED-20 polymer is 21.6-22.3% [14].…”

“…It is known that properties related to fire safety can be controlled by different means, including special mineral fillers and fire retardants [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]47]. The common approaches for improvement the performance of PMC against fire hazards involve usage of:…”

Fire-Resisting Composites Based on Polymer Matrix

“…Low-molecular organic compounds increase the combustibility and D m of EMC. Industrial grades of phosphate plasticizers increase the LOI and T si of epoxy binders from 22.1 % and 743 K up to 23.1-24.5 % and 773-783 K, respectively, and reduce the q cr value from 11.7 to 9.2-10.7 kW/m 2 [20]. The low efficiency of phosphate plasticizers is due to their relatively high combustibility: LOI of plasticizers is 23.…”

“…If mass rate of mineral filler is more than 20 %, than fume evolution index in the pyrolysis and flame combustion mode linearly decreases from 1470 and 800 m 2 /kg up to 460-550 and 190-250 m 2 /kg, respectively. This index only slightly depends on the chemical nature of the fillers [20].…”

“…It is known that properties related to fire safety can be controlled by different means, including special mineral fillers and fire retardants [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]47]. The common approaches to improvement of PMC performance against fire hazards involve the usage of:…”