Effects of Magnesium Hydroxide on the Flame Retardancy of Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Copolymers/Nitrile Rubber Blends

Key Words:thermal properties; rubber; flame retardancy; polymer composite; aluminum hydroxide; magnesium hydroxide

Abstract:The fire-resistant noncorrosive ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymers with vinyl acetate (VA) content > 40wt.% (EVM)/acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR)/magnesium hydroxide (MDH) composites were prepared, and the influence of MDH contents on flame retardancy, thermal stability, filler dispersion, and mechanical properties were studied. The flame-retardant effect of three different flame retardants [micro-sized MDH (mMDH), nano-sized MDH (nMDH), and micro-sized aluminum hydroxide (mATH)] was also investigated by cone calorimetry, thermal gravimetric analysis, and rubber process analysis in this paper. The decrease of the heat release rate and total heat release, the increase of residual mass, and the enhancement of thermal stability of the composites were all due to the flame-retardant effect of the MDH. The EVM/NBR vulcanizates had the best flame retardancy when the mMDH content was 180 phr. It was also found that the nMDH, mMDH, and mATH at the same loading had no obvious influence on the limiting oxygen index, while the combustion behaviors measured by the cone calorimeter had significant differences. The addition of ATH prolonged the time to ignition. The mMDH showed a better flame retardancy for EVM/NBR vulcanizates than the nMDH.

Volume:53

Issue:5

Translation or Not:no