Recent Progress and Multifunctional Applications of Fire-retardant Epoxy Resins

What is it about?

Modifiers like graphene, phosphorus, boron compounds or similar compatible fillers have been used to improve the fire retardancy of epoxy resins. The quantity of modifiers introduced into the epoxy matrix is crucial because high loading leads to deleterious thermal and mechanical properties. Taking that into account, this review identified the best epoxy-based fire-retardant polymer pertaining to modifier proportion. In this perspective, fire-retardant epoxy resins were classified into three groups: (1) intrinsic, (2) blends, and (3) composites. A closer investigation of the performance-enhanced material compositions based on multifunctional fire-retardant epoxy resins was undertaken. The review focused on key ingredient materials that included ionic liquids, phosphorus, boron/boron nitride, aluminum hydroxide, silicone, lignin, graphene, carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, and clay.

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Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

Photo by Patrick Hendry on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This review elucidated the multifunctional applications of fire-retardant epoxy resins, factors affecting fire retardancy, and current characterization techniques, including Underwriters Laboratories 94 testing, cone calorimeter, limiting oxygen index, SEM, and GC-FTIR. Further research possibilities for smart and effective fire-retardant materials were outlined.

Perspectives