A novel intumescent flame-retardant system containing metal chelates for polyvinyl alcohol

A novel flame retardant containing phosphorous-nitrogen structure, the ammonium salt of 2-hydroxyl-5,5-dimethyl-2,2-oxo-1,3,2-dioxapho sphorinane (PNOH), was synthesized and its structure was characterized by ¹H NMR and FTIR spectra. PNOH was used together with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) to prepare a novel intumescent flame retardant (IFR) for polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). When a few amounts (0.5%) of metal chelates were added, the flame retardancy of the IFR-PVA systems was significantly improved, having a high LOI value of 34.2 in a total IFR loading of 15 wt.%. In order to have an understanding of the resulting flame retardant effects, the thermal degradation behaviors of IFR-PVA systems were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and the morphology and structures of residues generated in different conditions were investigated by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and FTIR spectra. The results show that NiSAO can promote the thermal stability of the IFR-PVA; the residual char containing polyphosphoric or phosphoric acid is formed during the combustion; the formation of a continuous and dense char layer could inhibit the transmission of heat during contacting with flame and shows good flame retardancy.