Open Access Article
Weiqi
Xie
a,
Shiwen
Huang
a,
Shumei
Liu
*ab and
Jianqing
Zhao
*ab
aSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. E-mail: liusm@scut.edu.cn; psjqzhao@scut.edu.cn; Fax: +86-13611400566; Fax: +86-13609724000; Tel: +86-13611400566 Tel: +86-13609724000
bKey Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510640, P. R. China
First published on 30th September 2019
Herein, a new renewable Schiff base flame retardant 4,4′-((1E,1′E)-((oxybis(4,1-phenylene))bis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(benzene-1,2-diol) (PH-ODA) was prepared by the reaction of protocatechualdehyde with 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA). PH-ODA (acting as a carbonization agent) combined with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) were used as intumescent flame retardants for commercial bisphenol A epoxy resin (DGEBA). For the cured epoxy resin containing 7.5% APP and 2.5% PH-ODA, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) reached 29.9% (with the V-0 rating in UL-94 test), and the peak heat release rate and total smoke production were respectively decreased by 88.1% and 68.3%, compared with pure epoxy resin. The enhancement of fire-safety performance was due to PH-ODA/APP promoting the formation of a compact intumescent char structure. It was also found that the synergism between PH-ODA and APP was helpful to enhance the fire resistance of the epoxy matrix. This work provides a facile and sustainable route for synthesizing Schiff base compounds from biomass-derived resources, possessing great potential for application in highly-effective intumescent flame retardants.
Different types of flame retardants (phosphorus-, nitrogen- and silicon-containing compounds, metal hydroxides and intumescent flame retardants (IFRs)) have been adopted for enhancing the fire-safety performance of epoxy resins.8–11 Among them, IFRs are eco-friendly flame retardants with many advantages (e.g., low toxicity and smoke).12,13 However, the high addition (more than 25 wt%) of traditional IFRs (such as ammonium polyphosphate and pentaerythritol) is usually required to achieve the fire-safety properties of epoxy resins.14 The high addition of IFRs often caused some new problems like the poor mechanical and chemical compatibility performance of the epoxy matrix.15 Hence, the fire resistance efficiency of IFRs should be further improved for reducing the adverse impact on other properties of the epoxy thermosets. Recently, many works were reported for solving this problem, and the synthesis of high-performance carbonization agents of IFRs was considered as an important strategy.16–19
Schiff base compounds are very important chemicals, which are widely applied for many applications (i.e., drug release, gas separation, and catalysts) because of their diverse properties (i.e., catalytic, magnetic, and biological properties).20–23 Recently, the applications of Schiff base compounds for the flame retardant area has attracted much attention due to their good cross-linking charring ability at high temperature.24,25 Zhang's work26 revealed that the C
N double bonds in Schiff base compounds were able to generate nitrogen-containing hexatomic ring at higher temperature. These hexatomic ring structures make polymers form stable cross-linked networks and endow them with high flame retardancy. Obviously, Schiff base compounds have great potential for the carbonization agents of IFRs. Besides, most of the carbonization agents (i.e., pentaerythritol) used in IFRs are produced from the petroleum-based resource.27 In order to meet the urgent needs for alleviating the shortage of fossil resources and achieving the sustainable development, the preparation of bio-based Schiff base carbonization agents for IFRs is a potential and sustainable solution.28 Protocatechualdehyde is a plant-derived phenolic aldehyde compound containing two phenolic hydroxyl groups and an aldehyde group, which has been widely used in medicine because of its biological activities.29,30 Based on its unique structures and functional groups, protocatechualdehyde might be a promising biomass resource for preparing highly-effective Schiff base flame retardants.
Herein, a novel biorenewable flame retardant 4,4′-((1E,1′E)-((oxybis(4,1-phenylene))bis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(benzene-1,2-diol) (PH-ODA) is prepared from renewable protocatechualdehyde and employed as the carbonization agent of IFRs for commercial bisphenol A epoxy resin (DGEBA). It is expected that the flame retardant from a novel biomass-derived aromatic Schiff base compound has outstanding fire resistance efficiency. Moreover, the thermomechanical, thermal and mechanical properties of the cured resins are also evaluated.
:
1 for IFRs in this work.31 DDM, PH-ODA, and APP were firstly dissolved in acetone (50 °C). Then, the solution was added to a beaker containing DGEBA and stirred for 20 min (50 °C). Afterward, the curing system was transferred in a mould and degassed at 60 °C for 30 min. Finally, the system was cured at 80 °C for 2 h, 110 °C for 1 h, 150 °C for 2 h, and 180 °C for 2 h.
| Samplesa | DGEBA (wt%) | DDM (wt%) | APP (wt%) | PH-ODA (wt%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a Sample name: PH-ODA-X, X represents the mass fraction of the sum of PH-ODA and APP in curing system. APP-10 represents 10 wt% of APP in curing system. | ||||
| PH-ODA-0 | 79.83 | 20.17 | 0 | 0 |
| PH-ODA-5 | 75.84 | 19.16 | 3.75 | 1.25 |
| APP-10 | 71.85 | 18.15 | 10 | 0 |
| PH-ODA-10 | 71.85 | 18.15 | 7.5 | 2.5 |
| PH-ODA-15 | 67.86 | 17.14 | 11.25 | 3.75 |
Thermogravimetric analyses (TGA) was conducted using a TG-209F1 TGA (Netzsch, Selb, Germany) at a heating rate of 10 °C min−1 (N2 atmosphere), and the temperature range is from 50 to 700 °C. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) was conducted using a TA instrument (DMA Q800, America) at a heating rate of 3 °C min−1 (from 25 to 230 °C). The dimensions of cured samples for measurement were 40 × 10 × 3.0 mm.
Tensile and flexural properties were analyzed based on ASTM D638-08 and ASTM D790-07, respectively, on an Instron-5967 universal electronic testing machine.
UL-94 vertical burning tests were conducted with a UL 94 flame chamber (Fire Testing Technology, UK) according to ASTM D3801-10 (sample dimension of 125 × 13 × 3 mm). Limiting oxygen index (LOI) tests were conducted using an oxygen index instrument (Fire Testing Technology, UK) according to ASTM D2863-97 (sample dimension of 150 × 6.5 × 3.2 mm). Cone calorimeter tests (CCT) were conducted using a FTT cone calorimeter according to ISO5660 (sample dimension of 100 × 100 × 5 mm).
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) experiments were conducted with a NOVA NANOSEM 430 machine. The sample was sputter-coated with gold before testing. X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS) was conducted using an Axis Ultra spectrometer (Kratos, England). Thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (TGA-FTIR) tests were conducted with a STA449C/3MFC/G instrument (Bruker, USA) (N2 atmosphere, heating rate = 20 °C min−1).
N (H6), the signal of the aromatic protons (H3–5, H7, H8) is found at 7.40–6.83 ppm. In the 13C-NMR spectrum of PH-ODA (Fig. S1b†), the expected chemical shifts of C atoms are in good agreement with the actual chemical shifts. Fig. S1c† shows an [M + H+] ion peak at m/z 441.14 (molecular formula = C26H20N2O5). All these results verify that PH-ODA with a designed structure has been successfully synthesized. The thermal stability of PH-ODA is assessed by TGA (N2 atmosphere). As shown in Fig. S1d,† the initial decomposition temperature (T5%, temperature at 5% weight loss) of PH-ODA is 256.2 °C, and PH-ODA presents very high residue (60.1%) at 700 °C, suggesting an excellent charring ability of PH-ODA.
| Samples | LOI (%) | t 1 + t2 (s) | Dripping | UL-94 rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-ODA-0 | 23.5 | Last burning | Yes | No rating |
| PH-ODA-5 | 27.8 | Last burning | No | No rating |
| APP-10 | 29.1 | 85.8 ± 9.5 | No | No rating |
| PH-ODA-10 | 29.9 | 1.1 ± 0.6 | No | V-0 |
| PH-ODA-15 | 32.3 | 0.5 ± 0.3 | No | V-0 |
The fire-safety of the epoxy thermosets is further assessed with cone calorimeter test (CCT) (Fig. 2 and Table 3).33 As seen, the time to ignition (TTI) value of PH-ODA-10 is much lower than PH-ODA-0, which is mainly caused by the degradation of IFRs at the early stage.24 The peak heat release rate (pHRR) of PH-ODA-10 is decreased to 124.3 kW m2, which is 88.1% lower than PH-ODA-0 (1045.2 kW m2). Similarly, compared with PH-ODA-0, PH-ODA-10 shows a 62.3% reduction in total heat release (THR) value. The low HRR and THR values further demonstrate the excellent flame-retarded performance of IFRs. The smoke released from combustion is deemed as an extremely important parameter for fire safety of epoxy resins.34 In Fig. 2c and d, compared to PH-ODA-0, the peak smoke production rate (pSPR) and total smoke production (TSP) values of PH-ODA-10 are decreased significantly by 83.1% and 68.3%, demonstrating that the present IFRs are very beneficial to the smoke suppression of epoxy resins. Table S1† lists the reported Schiff base structures for flame retardant epoxy resins. As seen, most of the reported Schiff base compounds contain P element, because they are usually synthesized from the reaction of Schiff base intermediates with DOPO or DPPA, which lead to the high molecular weights of these Schiff base compounds. In this work, the flame retardancy of PH-ODA is attributed to the good cross-linking charring ability of C
N double bond (without introducing DOPO or DPPA), which shows a relatively lower molecular weight compared with the reported Schiff base compounds and thus reduces the steric hindrance of PH-ODA molecule. In addition, the four active phenolic groups make PH-ODA have good compatibility with epoxy resin.
| Samples | TTI (s) | pHRR (kW m2) | THR (MJ m2) | SPR (m2 s−1) | TSP (m2) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-ODA-0 | 50 | 1045.2 | 152.3 | 0.65 | 141.2 |
| PH-ODA-10 | 25 | 124.3 | 57.3 | 0.11 | 44.8 |
FTIR technique is utilized for analyzing the chemical compositions of char residues after CCT. For char residues of both PH-ODA-0 and PH-ODA-10 in Fig. 3, the peak appeared at 3452 cm−1 (N–H and O–H) indicate that amino- and hydroxyl-containing substances exist in PH-ODA-0 and PH-ODA-10 after combustion. The peak at 1631 cm−1 is assigned to the stretching vibrations of carbonized compounds. Meanwhile, for PH-ODA-10, several new absorption peaks appear, which are assigned to the phosphorus-containing bands: 1082 cm−1 (P
O), 903 cm−1 (P–O–C) and 1235 cm−1 (P–O–C).35 The FTIR results indicate that the nitrogen and phosphorus-containing substances are left after CCT, which jointly promote the formation of intumescent char during the combustion of epoxy matrix. XPS technique is also utilized for analyzing the element composition of the char residues, as listed in Table 4. The char residue of PH-ODA-0 is composed of C, O and N elements and contains no P element. Meanwhile, the P content of the PH-ODA-10 char residue reaches 2.70 wt%, indicating that the phosphorus-containing substances generated from PH-ODA-10 play a very important role in forming the intumescent char, which agrees with the results of FT-IR.
| Samples | C (wt%) | O (wt%) | N (wt%) | P (wt%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-ODA-0 | 80.87 | 14.92 | 4.21 | 0 |
| PH-ODA-10 | 85.75 | 9.82 | 1.73 | 2.70 |
Raman spectroscopy is applied for assessing the graphitization of char by using the ratio of the integrated intensities of D to G bands on Raman spectra. Fig. S4† illustrates the Raman spectra of char residues for PH-ODA-0 and PH-ODA-10, both of which show two distinctive bands i.e. D band (1345 cm−1) and G band (1591 cm−1). D band is related to the disordered carbon structure and G band is related to the stretching vibration of carbon atoms in the crystalline part of graphite layers.36 Thus, the ratio of integrated intensities (ID/IG) is an indicator of the degree of graphitization. The ID/IG values of PH-ODA-0 char (3.46) is much higher than that of PH-ODA-10 char (3.10). The lower ID/IG value of PH-ODA-10 suggests that the char of PH-ODA-10 possess higher degree of graphitization, indicating that the IFRs (PH-ODA/APP blends) are helpful to enhance the thermal stability and flame retardancy of epoxy composite.37
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| Fig. 4 TGA curves of (a) PH-ODA-0 and PH-ODA-10 in N2 and (b) experimental and calculated PH-ODA/APP blends in N2. | ||
The interaction between PH-ODA and APP is verified by the comparison of the calculated and experimental results of PH-ODA/APP mixture during the thermal degradation (Fig. 4b). The calculated curve is achieved based on the combination of the two separate TGA curves of PH-ODA and APP.38 It can be seen that the experimental curve is above the calculated curve after 680 °C, suggesting that the reaction between PH-ODA and APP improves the thermal stability and charring properties. In addition, the residue of the experimental curve at 800 °C (30.0%) is higher than the calculated residue (23.7%). The above results further verify the synergistic effect in the IFRs system, which promote the char formation of the epoxy composite.
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| Fig. 5 The FTIR spectra of pyrolysis products of PH-ODA-10 and PH-ODA-0 at (a) the initial and (b) maximum degradation temperatures. | ||
O stretching) is found over the whole temperature scope. The above results show that P–O–C and P
O promote the formation of char layer during the combustion of epoxy matrix. The peak appeared at 1650 cm−1 (–C
C– stretching) after 300 °C indicates the generation of carbonized substances. Moreover, the peak of PH-ODA at 1487 cm−1 (–C
N– stretching) disappear and peak at 1401 cm−1 (–C–N– stretching) appear at 300 °C, indicating the formation of amine nitrogen (–C–N–). According to the literature,26 the amine nitrogen (–C–N–) converts to nitrogen-containing hexatomic ring after further increasing the temperature. The above results indicate that the reaction of APP with PH-ODA and the self-crosslinking of –C
N– in PH-ODA jointly promote the char forming of the stable char layer.
| Samples | E′ at 30 °C (GPa) | T g (°C) | ν e (103 mol m−3) |
|---|---|---|---|
| PH-ODA-0 | 2.97 | 162.1 | 5.04 |
| PH-ODA-10 | 3.29 | 153.3 | 4.95 |
The mechanical properties of PH-ODA-0 and PH-ODA-10 are further evaluated (see Table 6). Compared to PH-ODA-0, the tensile and flexural strengths of PH-ODA-10 are only decreased by 5.1% and 4.2%, respectively. These differences are mainly originated from the lower cross-link density of PH-ODA-10. Meanwhile, the tensile and flexural moduli of PH-ODA-10 are respectively increased by 3.0% and 7.7%, which is mainly a result of the more rigid structures (Schiff base and aromatic structure) in PH-ODA-10.
| Samples | Tensile modulus (GPa) | Tensile strength (MPa) | Flexural modulus (GPa) | Flexural strength (MPa) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PH-ODA-0 | 3.32 ± 0.23 | 72.8 ± 1.0 | 2.71 ± 0.11 | 108.2 ± 5.0 |
| PH-ODA-10 | 3.42 ± 0.12 | 69.1 ± 0.9 | 2.92 ± 0.23 | 103.7 ± 1.6 |
Footnote |
| † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c9ra06574a |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2019 |