Effects of MWNTs-COOH on the Combustion Behaviour and the Flame Retardancy Properties of PET

Abstract

Novel carboxyl-modified MWNTs-containing PET nanocomposites (PET/MWNTs-COOH) were successfully prepared via an in-situ method. Thermal stability and flame-retardancy properties of PET/MWNTs-COOH nanocomposites were investigated by cone calorimetry (CONE), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The CONE calorimetry results showed that PET/MWNTs-COOH had a lower heat release rate (HRR) and total smoke production (TSR), compared with those of pure PET. TGA indicated that the incorporation of MWNTs-COOH increased the char residues and improved the thermal stability of pure PET SEM images of the char crusts showed that PET/MWNTs-COOH formed more continuous and thicker char residues than those formed with pure PET during combustion. The above results indicated that combustion behaviour and flame retardancy properties of the MWNTs-COOH/PET nanocomposites were sufficiently enhanced that MWNTs-COOH could act as a flame retardancy agent for a PET matrix. Condensed phase and gas phase mechanisms were proposed for the PET/MWNTs-COOH flame-retardancy effect.

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