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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mater.
Sec. Polymeric and Composite Materials
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmats.2025.1536536
This article is part of the Research Topic Recent Advances in Flame Retardant Polymeric Materials and Composites View all articles

Construction of flame-retardant and water-resistant polybutylene terephthalate composites by reactive extrusion

Provisionally accepted
Guowen Ran Guowen Ran Jingfan Zhang Jingfan Zhang Yihui Yuan Yihui Yuan Haisheng Xie Haisheng Xie Tao Li Tao Li Xiucai Lan Xiucai Lan Yanxiao Cao Yanxiao Cao *
  • China Bluestar Chengrand Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610041, China, Chengdu, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The combination of aluminum diethylphosphinate (ADP) and melamine pyrophosphate (MPP) has been extensively utilized in flame-retardant polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) composites. However, the hydrophilic nature of ADP and MPP leads to their migration to the surface or separation from the PBT matrix under the influence of heat and moisture, which subsequently results in the degradation of both flame retardancy and mechanical properties. In this study, reactive epoxy groups were introduced onto the surface of the flame retardant (FR) using a simple method. The resulting encapsulated flame retardant (EP@FR) was then incorporated into PBT via a twin-screw extruder. During extrusion process, the reactive epoxy groups interacted with the free terminal hydroxy and carboxy derived from the PBT, forming covalent bonds at the interface of FR and PBT, thereby enhancing flame retardancy and water resistance. With the addition of 16.0 wt.% EP@FR, the PBT/EP@FR composites achieved a UL-94 V-0 rating with an LOI value of 28.5%. Notably, the mechanical properties and UL-94 V-0 rating of the PBT/EP@FR composites were maintained even after immersion in water at 70 °C for 14 days. It is expected that this work can provide a promising strategy for the development of flame-retardant and water-resistant PBT composites.

    Keywords: Polybutylene terephthalate, reactive extrusion, flame retardancy, Water resistance, Mechanical Properties

    Received: 29 Nov 2024; Accepted: 02 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Ran, Zhang, Yuan, Xie, Li, Lan and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yanxiao Cao, China Bluestar Chengrand Co., Ltd., Chengdu 610041, China, Chengdu, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.