A low-density polyethylene composite with phosphorus-nitrogen based flame retardant and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for enhanced electrical conductivity and acceptable flame retardancy

Yong Luo, Yuhui Xie, Renjie Chen, Ruizhi Zheng, Hua Wu, Xinxin Sheng, Delong Xie, Yi Mei

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Front. Chem. Sci. Eng. ›› 2021, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (5) : 1332-1345. DOI: 10.1007/s11705-021-2035-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE

A low-density polyethylene composite with phosphorus-nitrogen based flame retardant and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for enhanced electrical conductivity and acceptable flame retardancy

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Abstract

Design and exploitation of flame retardant polymers with high electrical conductivity are desired for polymer applications in electronics. Herein, a novel phosphorus-nitrogen intumescent flame retardant was synthesized from pentaerythritol octahydrogen tetraphosphate, phenylphosphonyl dichloride, and aniline. Low-density polyethylene was combined with the flame retardant and multi-walled carbon nanotubes to form a nanocomposite material via a ball-milling and hot-pressing method. The electrical conductivity, mechanical properties, thermal performance, and flame retardancy of the composites were investigated using a four-point probe instrument, universal tensile machine, thermogravimetric analysis, and cone calorimeter tests, respectively. It was found that the addition of multi-walled carbon nanotubes can significantly improve the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of the low-density polyethylene composites. Furthermore, the combination of multi-walled carbon nanotubes and phosphorus–nitrogen flame retardant remarkably enhances the flame retardancy of matrixes with an observed decrease of the peak heat release rate and total heat release of 49.8% and 51.9%, respectively. This study provides a new and effective methodology to substantially enhance the electrical conductivity and flame retardancy of polymers with an attractive prospect for polymer applications in electrical equipment.

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Keywords

MWCNTs / PEPA / electrical conductivity / flame retardant / low density polyethylene

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Yong Luo, Yuhui Xie, Renjie Chen, Ruizhi Zheng, Hua Wu, Xinxin Sheng, Delong Xie, Yi Mei. A low-density polyethylene composite with phosphorus-nitrogen based flame retardant and multi-walled carbon nanotubes for enhanced electrical conductivity and acceptable flame retardancy. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2021, 15(5): 1332‒1345 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2035-0

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21663015, 21908031 and 51603096) and Scientific Research Funds of Yunnan Education Department (Grant No. 2021Y111).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-021-2035-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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