Tribological and flame retardant modification of polyamide-6 composite

Abstract

A series of wear and flame resistant polyamide 6 (PA6) composites were prepared using glass fiber (GF) and talc (T) as reinforcer, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and graphite (Gr) as solid lubricants, red phosphorus (RP) and zinc borate (ZB) as flame retardant. The tribological property, mechanical property, flame retardant property and the flame retardant mechanism were investigated. The tests show that the formula of the wear resistant PA6 composite (WRPA 6) is PA6/GF/T/PTFE/Gr in the ratio of 100/15/5/10/5 by mass. Because this composite exhibits the lowest friction coefficient (0.1429) and no wear mass loss, the introduction of RP and ZB can increase the flame resistance of WRPA6, and the synergistic effect of RP and ZB is obtained. Detailedly, the composite with 4 parts of ZB and 12 parts of RP shows the best flame retardant property, achieving the highest limiting oxygen index (LOI) (30.2 vol%) and a UL94 V-0 rating, and the flame retardant mechanisms may be gas phase along with condense phase mechanism.