Synthesis and characterization of amino-terminated phosphorous polyborosiloxane and its effect on flame retardancy of polymethacrylimide

Abstract

In this study, a novel flame retardant, that is, amino-terminated phosphorous polyborosiloxane (N-PBSi), was synthesized via a two-step polymerization reaction. The product's chemical structure was characterized firstly by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was proved that the prepared N-PBSi was indeed amino terminated and contained multiple flame-retardant elements including P, B, and Si. Besides, based on the variation of its FTIR spectra from room temperature to 700 °C and the subsequent thermogravimetric results, there also showed that the resultant N-PBSi had desirable thermal stability. This is a prerequisite for preparing flame-retardant polymethacrylimide (PMI) as PMI synthesis requires a high temperature treatment process up to 160 °C. On this basis, the condition for N-PBSi synthesis was then optimized to obtain flame retardants with better quality and higher yield. According to the experiments, the reactant ratio and reaction time were recommended to be 1:1.33:3 and 6 h, respectively. To evaluate the effectiveness of N-PBSi further, the flame retardancy of PMI with N-PBSi grafted was then investigated. The UL-94 rating and limiting oxygen index value of the PMI with 15 wt.% of N-PBSi incorporated were tested to be V-0 and 27%, respectively, indicative of greatly enhanced flame-retardant properties. In addition, the flame-retardant mechanism of N-PBSi on PMI was also discussed. Given all of these, the prepared N-PBSi as a reactive and effective flame retardant was promising for PMI.