Preparation of flame-retardant paper using magnesium salt whiskers as filler

摘要

Magnesium salt whiskers not only have good flame retardant and smoke-suppressant properties, but are also completely non-toxic and pollution-free, because the gas released is water vapour and the combustion product is magnesium oxide. Flame-retardant paper was prepared using magnesium salt whiskers as filler, and the flame-retardant property and other properties of the paper were compared to papers filled with natural brucite. The results showed that it is possible to use magnesium salt whiskers as a papermaking filler to prepare flame-retardant paper with better flame-retardant characteristics than papers filled with brucite. When the furnish contained 25% magnesium salt whiskers (giving 15.7% content in the paper) the oxygen index of the resultant handsheet exceeded 25%, meeting flame retardant requirements. A negative effect on paper strength was observed when the furnish content of magnesium salt whiskers exceeded 25%. The flame-retardant mechanism of magnesium salt whiskers was revealed using thermogravimetric analysis.