Intercalation of phosphotungstic acid into layered double hydroxides by reconstruction method and its application in intumescent flame retardant poly (lactic acid) composites

Sheng Zhang, Yongxin Yan, Wenjia Wang, Xiaoyu Gu, Hongfei Li, Jianhua Li, Jun Sun

Index: 10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2017.12.004

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Abstract

Phosphotungstic acid is a typical kind of superior catalysts, and it is hardly to intercalate into the layered double hydroxides (LDH) by ion-exchange process because of its low negative charge. In this work, a phosphotungstic acid intercalated MgAl-LDH (PWA-LDH) was prepared by reconstruction method, and it was then introduced into poly (lactic acid) (PLA) resin in association with intumescent flame retardant (IFR) by melt blending to prepare a flame-retardant biodegradable PLA composite. The effects of PWA-LDH on the flame retardancy of PLA composites were characterized by limiting oxygen index (LOI), vertical burning test (UL-94) and cone calorimeter test. The results showed that the composite sample containing 18.0 wt% IFR and 2.0 wt% PWA-LDH achieved the maximal LOI value of 48.3%, passed the UL-94 V-0 rating, and significantly decreased the peak heat release rate from 306.3 kW/m2 of neat PLA to 40.1 kW/m2. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that both the thermal stability and the char formation were enhanced. The char morphology observation revealed that PWA-LDH was beneficial to form dense and compact char layers. It was demonstrated that there existed a synergistic effect between IFR and PWA-LDH in promoting the char formation and enhancing the fire resistance.