Effect of aluminum tri-hydroxide/zinc borate and aluminium tri-hydroxide/melamine flame retardant systems synergies on epoxy resin

Aluminium tri-hydroxide (ATH), zinc borate (ZnB), and Melamine (MEL) can be used as flame retardants to enhance the flammability and thermal stability of a material without adverse environmental and human health effects. In this work, the synergistic effect between ATH with ZnB and Melamine on epoxy resin was studied. Epoxy resins with 20% mixture of ATH/ZnB and Epoxy with 20% ATH/Melamine of two flame retardant systems were prepared. The UL-94 V and LOI tests were conducted to evaluate flame properties of composites. TGA study was used to check thermal stability of the samples. The combustion behaviour of the composites was assessed by cone calorimeter test. The results showed that ATH/Melamine combined action showed excellent flame retardance and rated as V-0. An increased LOI value was observed with the combined action of ATH/Melamine than ATH/ZnB. The cone calorimeter results obtained from of ATH/Melamine system showed a remarkable decrease in the peak heat release rate, and total heat release values of the composites. The TGA results of the of ATH/Melamine system showed high thermal stability at 600 °C. Thus, the usage of ATH/Melamine system plays a good synergistic effect on flame retardancy, thermal and combustion properties of the epoxy resin than of ATH/ZnB system.