Green construction of multi-functional fire resistant epoxy resins based on boron nitride with core-shell structure

Abstract

Fabrication of multi-functional epoxy resins by green methods is of great interest in the rapidly developing fields (5 G, AI, IoT, electronics & electrical appliances). To this end, a multifunctional nanoparticle was greenly constructed by utilizing hydrogen bonding interactions and electrostatic interactions to coat a layer of bio-based polyelectrolyte (composed of phytate and chitosan) on the surface of boron nitride. More importantly, the construction process does not use any organic solvent and external heat source. Then, this multi-functional nanoparticle is used for the functional modification of epoxy resin. Owing to the synergistic effect of polyelectrolyte and boron nitride at the nanoscale, the LOI value of the modified epoxy resin is raised to 32.8% at a lower addition amount (7 wt.%). Furthermore, the modified epoxy resin exhibit a rapid extinguishing phenomenon (0.5 s) after the cessation of fire supply in the vertical combustion test. Simultaneously, the peak heat release rate (pHRR) and total smoke production (TSP) are reduced by 54.3% and 33.0% compared with neat EP. Moreover, the multi-functional nanoparticles also endow the modified epoxy with good thermal conductivity, mechanical properties and dielectric properties. All in all, this work presents a green method for the construction of multi-functional epoxy resins.