Abstract
We aimed to study the impact of surface modification of basalt fiber (BF) on the mechanical properties of basalt fiber-based epoxy composites. Four different types of pretreatment approaches to BF were used; then a silane coupling agent (KH550) was applied to further modify the pretreated BF, prior to the preparation of epoxy resin (EP)/BF composites. The combination of acetone (pre-treatment) and KH550 (formal surface treatment) for basalt fiber (BT-AT) imparted the EP/BF composite with the best performance in both tensile and impact strengths. Subsequently, such modified BF was introduced into the flame-retardant epoxy composites (EP/AP750) to prepare basalt fiber reinforced flame-retardant epoxy composite (EP/AP750/BF-AT). The fire behaviors of the composites were evaluated by vertical burning test (UL-94), limiting oxygen index (LOI) test and cone calorimetry. In comparison to the flame-retardant properties of EP/AP750, the incorporation of BF-AT slightly reduced LOI value from 26.3% to 25.1%, maintained the good performance in vertical burning test, but increased the peak of the heat release rate. Besides, the thermal properties and mechanical properties of the composites were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), universal tensile test, impact test and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA).
Highlights
Accepted: 10 February 2021As a thermosetting polymer, epoxy resin (EP) became a preferred matrix for electric insulation, coatings, laminates, and composites due to its outstanding advantages such as high thermal conductivity, low shrinkage, mechanical stabilities, easy handling, chemical resistance, and excellent physical properties
The main objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the surface modifications of basalt fiber (BF) and properties of BF reinforced epoxy composites
In order to understand the compatibility between the epoxy matrix and fibers, the surface morphology and microstructure of BF, BF-MFT, BF-SHT, BF-AT, and BF-AAT were characterized by SEM
Summary
Epoxy resin (EP) became a preferred matrix for electric insulation, coatings, laminates, and composites due to its outstanding advantages such as high thermal conductivity, low shrinkage, mechanical stabilities, easy handling, chemical resistance, and excellent physical properties. Concerning the environmental friendliness and high-efficiency, intumescent fire retardants (IFRs) have been long-term developed and attracted numerous attentions to polymers [10,11,12]. Exolit AP750 (AP750) as a high efficiency intumescent flame retardant because of its machining stability, smoke suppressibility and non-toxic, is used in the following study. Basalt fibers (BFs) are inorganic materials with high modulus, good strength, rectified strain to failure, excellent temperature resistance, superb stability, great chemical resistance, and they are easy to process, non-toxic, natural-based, eco-friendly, and cost-effective [13,14,15,16]. BF might be a better reinforced fiber as compared to glass fiber (GF), Published: 14 February 2021
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