Title

Fire retardancy of clay/carbon nanofiber hybrid sheet in fiber reinforced polymer composites

Authors

Authors

Z. F. Zhao; J. H. Gou; S. Bietto; C. Ibeh;D. Hui

Abbreviated Journal Title

Compos. Sci. Technol.

Keywords

Nanocomposites; Carbon nanofiber; Nanoclay; Fire retardancy; Vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding; FLAMMABILITY PROPERTIES; CLAY NANOCOMPOSITES; CARBON NANOTUBES; INTUMESCENTS; PERFORMANCE; Materials Science, Composites

Abstract

In this paper, two kinds of clay/carbon nanofiber hybrid sheets containing 0.05 wt% and 0.20 wt% of Cloisite Na(+) clay, were fabricated through a high-pressure filtration system. These sheets were integrated onto the surface of laminated composites like traditional continuous fiber mats through vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process. The fire performance of the laminated composites was evaluated with cone calorimeter tests under an external radiant heat flux of 50 kW/m(2). Their residues were analyzed with scanning electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analyses. It was found that the clay/nanofiber hybrid sheets survived on the combustion surface of composites and significantly reduced the heat release rate by similar to 60.5%. The protective clay layer reduces the heat release rates and the nanofiber network reinforces the clay layer against the air bubbling and melt flow of the products degraded from the polymer resin. The clay/carbon nanofiber hybrid sheet combines the barrier and insulator effects of the clays with the re-emitting heat effect of carbon nanofibers on the combustion surface of composites. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Journal Title

Composites Science and Technology

Volume

69

Issue/Number

13

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Document Type

Article; Proceedings Paper

Language

English

First Page

2081

Last Page

2087

WOS Identifier

WOS:000269295900008

ISSN

0266-3538

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