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Dry-spun Polyimide Fibers with Excellent Thermal Stability, Intrinsic Flame Retardancy and Ultralow Smoke Release

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Abstract

Polymer fiber with an ultrahigh thermal stability, superior flame retardancy and low smoke release during combustion is urgently needed and a crucial challenge for developing advanced fireproof textiles. In this study, a series of high-performance polyimide fibers are synthesized by copolymerizing 4,4′-diaminodiphenylmethane (MDA) into the pyromellitic dianhydride-p-phenylenediamine (PMDA-PDA) backbone for synergistically solving the technical challenge of poor fiber processing ability of these polyimides with a high inherent molecular rigidity. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of resultant fibers with the PDA molar ratio over 50 mol% reaches above 420 °C and their 10 wt% weight loss temperature (T10%) is within 543–633 °C. For the typical fiber containing 80 mol% of PDA, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) reaches 39% and exhibits a rapid self-extinguishing performance after deviating from the flame. Meanwhile, this fiber exhibits the minimum heat release rate of 14.1 kW/m2 in a long ignition time of 813 s during combustion, revealing its better flame retardancy than the well-known Nomex fiber with a heat release rate of 140.6 kW/m2 during the 120 s ignition. Meanwhile, the total smoke production of this polyimide fiber is only 1/9 of the Nomex fiber. Accordingly, the excellent flame retardancy of polyimide fibers indicating them more attractive as the fireproof materials in the field of emergency protection.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51903038 and 21975040), the Scientific Research Innovation Plan of Shanghai Education Commission (No. 2019-01-07-00-03-E00001), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No. 21ZR1400200) and the Project “Fiber materials and products for emergency support and public safety” from Jiangsu New Vision Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center Co., Ltd. (No. 2021-fx020204).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Han Dong, Xiu-Ting Li, Xin Zhao, Jie Dong & Qing-Hua Zhang

  2. Jiangsu New Vision Advanced Functional Fiber Innovation Center Co., Ltd., Suzhou, 215000, China

    Yu-Ping Wang

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  1. Han Dong
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  2. Yu-Ping Wang
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  3. Xiu-Ting Li
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  4. Xin Zhao
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  5. Jie Dong
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  6. Qing-Hua Zhang
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Correspondence to Jie Dong or Qing-Hua Zhang.

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The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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Dong, H., Wang, YP., Li, XT. et al. Dry-spun Polyimide Fibers with Excellent Thermal Stability, Intrinsic Flame Retardancy and Ultralow Smoke Release. Chin J Polym Sci 40, 1422–1431 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2792-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-022-2792-3

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