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Synergistic effect of novel ionic liquid/graphene complex on the flame retardancy of epoxy nanocomposites

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Abstract

Epoxy resin (EP) is a thermosetting resin with excellent properties, but its application is limited due to its high brittleness and poor flame retardancy. Therefore, to solve this problem, a dispersion system of imidazole-containing ionic liquid ([Dmim]Es) and graphene in epoxy resin is designed based on the π–π stacking effect between imidazole and graphite layers. The study on the thermal and flame-retardant properties of the composites show that the modified [Dmim]Es–graphene nanosheets improved the flame retardancy, smoke suppression and thermal stability of epoxy resin. With the addition of 5wt% [Dmim]Es and 1% Gra, the exothermic rate (HRR) and total exothermic (THR) of the composites decrease by 35% and 30.2% compared with the untreated epoxy cross-linking, respectively. The limiting oxygen index reaches 33.4%, the UL-94 test rating reaches V-0. The characterization of mechanical properties shows that the tensile properties and impact properties increased by 13% and 30%, respectively. Through SEM observation, the addition of [Dmim]Es improves the dispersion of graphene in the EP collective and changes the mechanical fracture behavior. The results show that ionic liquid [Dmim]Es-modified graphene nanosheets are well dispersed in the matrix, which not only improves the mechanical properties of epoxy resin (EP), but also has a synergistic effect on flame retardancy. This work provides novel flame-retardant and graphene dispersion methods that broaden the range of applications of epoxy resins.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from Youth Growth Science and technology plan project of Science and Technology Department of Jilin Province (20210508051RQ) for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jilin Province Key Laboratory of Carbon Fiber Development and Application, College of Chemistry and Life Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun, 130012, The People’s Republic of China

    Chunhong Zhang, Zice Xu, Wenbo Sui, Junbo Zang, Yuhui Ao, Lu Wang & Lei Shang

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  1. Chunhong Zhang
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  2. Zice Xu
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  3. Wenbo Sui
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  6. Lu Wang
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  7. Lei Shang
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Contributions

CZ: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft. ZX: validation, investigation. WS: visualization, investigation. JZ: data curation, project administration. LS: resources, writing—review and editing. LW: writing—review and editing. YA: funding acquisition, supervision, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Lu Wang or Lei Shang.

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Zhang, C., Xu, Z., Sui, W. et al. Synergistic effect of novel ionic liquid/graphene complex on the flame retardancy of epoxy nanocomposites. Carbon Lett. 33, 501–516 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-022-00440-9

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