Simultaneously improving flame retardancy, water and acid resistance of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer by introducing magnesium hydroxide/red phosphorus co-microcapsule and carbon nanotube

• Published in: Polymer degradation and stability 2020-01, Vol.171, p.109051, Article 109051
• Main Authors: Liu, Jichun, He, Yunpeng, Chang, Haibo, Guo, Yingbin, Li, Hang, Pan, Bingli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acid resistance; Carbon; Carbon nanotube; Co-microcapsule; Composite materials; Copolymers; Diphenyl methane diisocyanate; Electrical insulation; Ethylene vinyl acetates; Flame retardancy; Flame retardants; Insulation; Magnesium hydroxide; Melamine; Multi wall carbon nanotubes; Nanotubes; Phosphorus; Red phosphorus
• ISSN: 0141-3910; 1873-2321
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2019.109051

In this work, a co-microcapsule of magnesium hydroxide (MH) and red phosphorus (RP) (denoted as M[MH&RP]) was synthesized using 4, 4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate and melamine via one-step in-situ surface polymerization, which was subsequently introduced into ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) as a flame retardant. The results indicate that the core-shell structured co-microcapsule displays increased thermal and thermo-oxidative stability as well as better dispersion in EVA. Flame retardancy of the EVA/M[MH&RP] composite improves significantly in comparison with the EVA/MH/RP composite due to formation of continuous and compact char layer on the surface of the composite. Moreover, this flame-retardant composite exhibits excellent water and acid resistance. The addition of a small amount of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) further increases flame retardancy of the EVA/M[MH&RP] composite considerably and the flame-retardant EVA/M[MH&RP]/MWCNT composite has good mechanical flexibility and electrical insulation. This work has provided a simple method to prepare multi-functional flame-retardant EVA composite. •Co-microencapsulation of MH/RP mixture can improve its flame-retardant efficiency in EVA significantly.•The flame-retardant EVA/M[MH&RP] composite exhibits excellent water and acid resistance.•The introduction of a small amount of MWCNT can increases flame retardancy of the composite remarkably.