The effect of traditional flame retardants, nanoclays and carbon nanotubes in the fire performance of epoxy resin composites

Abstract

The effectiveness of distinct fillers, from micro to nano-size scaled, on the fire behaviour of an epoxy resin and its carbon fibre reinforced composites was assessed by cone calorimetry. The performance was compared not only regarding the reaction to fire performance, but also in terms of thermal stability, glass transition temperature and microstructure. Regarding the fire reaction behaviour of nanofilled epoxy resin, anionic nanoclays and thermally oxidized carbon nanotubes showed the best results, in agreement with more compact chars formed on the surface of the burning polymer. For carbon fibre reinforced composite plates, the cone calorimeter results of modified resin samples did not show significant improvements on the heat release rate curves. Poorly dispersed fillers in the resin additionally caused reductions on the glass transition temperature of the composite materials.