Re-examination of the intumescence mechanism of fire retarded PP with APP/pentaerythritol/zeolite-4A using advanced spectroscopic techniques

Abstract

The mixture of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and pentaerythritol (PER) is a very efficient flame retardant (FR) intumescent system suitable for polyolefins such as polypropylene (PP). The mechanisms of intumescence of this FR system in this polymer was investigated using different spectroscopic techniques including continuous wave (CW) electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. In this work, the intumescence mechanism of PP/APP/PER formulations with and without 4A is revisited. The intumescent system was in-depth investigated using NMR, CW EPR and pulsed EPR. The CW EPR technique confirmed that free radicals are mainly generated during the intumescence of the system between 250 and 350 °C. Thanks to the pulsed EPR and solid state NMR, it was evidenced that a key structural shift from a predominantly carbonaceous residue to a predominantly phosphorated residue. Besides, it was also evidenced that zeolite 4A totally collapses during extrusion of PP/APP/PER formulations reacting with APP to generate aluminophosphates. Then, silicophosphates are generated between 350 and 400 °C. Both alumino- and silicophosphates contribute to protect aromatic structures in the residue at high temperatures.