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Preparation and characterization of phenolic foams with eco-friendly halogen-free flame retardant

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Abstract

The high solid resol phenolic resin was prepared via step polymerization of formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, and phenol using sodium hydroxide and calcium oxide as catalysts, and employed to prepare the phenolic foams (PFs) by the introduction of retardant additives including eco-friendly halogen-free flame retardants (ammonium polyphosphate), char-forming agents (pentaerythritol), and synergists (zinc oxide, molybdenum trioxide, cuprous chloride, and stannous chloride). The effects of these additives on flame retardancy, heat resistance, and fire properties of flame-retardant composite phenolic foams (FRCPFs) were evaluated by limiting oxygen index (LOI) tests, thermogravimetric analyzer, and cone calorimeter tests. It was found that the flame retardan significantly increased the LOIs of FRCPFs. Compared with PF, heat release rate, total heat release, effective heat of combustion, production or yield of carbon monoxide (COP or COY), and Oxygen consumption (O2C) of FRCPFs all remarkably decreased. However specific extinction area and total smoke release significantly increased, which agreed with the gas-phase mechanism of the flame-retardant system. The results indicate that FRCPFs have excellent fire-retardant performance and less smoke release. APP/PER/ZnO is shown to be better flame-retardant system for PFs.

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Acknowledgments

The study was partially financially supported by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2012BAD24B04) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31200448).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, CAF, National Engineering Lab. for Biomass Chemical Utilization, Key and Open Lab. on Forest Chemical Engineering, SFA, Key Lab. of Biomass Energy and Material, Nanjing, 210042, Jiangsu, China

    Yufeng Ma, Jifu Wang, Yuzhi Xu, Chunpeng Wang & Fuxiang Chu

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  1. Yufeng Ma
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  2. Jifu Wang
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Correspondence to Chunpeng Wang or Fuxiang Chu.

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Ma, Y., Wang, J., Xu, Y. et al. Preparation and characterization of phenolic foams with eco-friendly halogen-free flame retardant. J Therm Anal Calorim 114, 1143–1151 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-013-3180-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-013-3180-6

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