Thermal and combustion behavior of polyethersulfone-boehmite nanocomposites

摘要

In this paper, we report a thorough study on the thermal stability and fire behavior of polyethersulfone (PES) filled with 2 wt％ nano-sized aluminum oxide hydroxide particles (boehmite). The nanocomposite was prepared through melt compounding technique in a co-rotating twin screw extruder. The obtained morphology of the composite was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with elemental analysis, proving that an even distribution of sub-micron boehmite particles was obtained. PES shear modulus, measured by DMA, is increased by 30％ in the boehmite nanocomposite. Thermal stability of the produced materials was studied through thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), whereas the combustion behavior through cone calorimeter and vertical burning (UL-94) tests. Cone calorimeter results show that a significant overall flame retardant effect was observed due to the presence of boehmite nanoparticles, which could not be detected by UL-94 fire scenario where neat PES is already top ranked VO.