Synergistic effect of SiO2 doped g-C3N4 and ammonium polyphosphate on flame retardancy of PA6 composites

The combination of nitrogen and phosphorus compounds has synergistic flame retardant effect, but the addition of low phosphorus content compounds is large, which affects the mechanical properties of polymers. Phosphorus ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with high phosphorus content and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) doped with SiO2 were used for the flame retardant (CN-Si-APP) of polyamide 6 (PA6). CN-Si-APPs with different APP/CN mass ratio (1, 2.5 and 4) and dosage (7 and 12 wt%) were blended with PA6 via a twin-screw extruder, and their flame retardancy was investigated by limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 test, muffle furnace carbonization test and raman spectroscopy. When only APP added, the coefficient of water absorption (CWA) of composites increased and its tensile strength greatly reduced by nearly 37.1% to 35.39 MPa. The addition of g-C3N4 inhibited the water absorption. When the addition dosage is 7%, the CWA of PA6/ APP, PA6/CN-Si-APP2.5, PA6 and PA6/CN were 11.1, 6.86, 5.78 and 4.6%, respectively. SiO2 effectively improved the dispersion of g-C3N4 and the mechanical properties of composites. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the char residue of PA6 composites was improved significantly. The composite with 7 wt% CN-Si-APP4 passed the UL-94 V-0 rating. The LOI value and graphitization degree (I-D/I-G) of PA6/12 wt% CN-Si-APP2.5 reached 28.7% and 2.93 respectively. Under the same dosage, the graphitization degree of CN-Si-APP2.5 (3.51) was higher than that of g-C3N4 (3.98). The barrier protection of g-C3N4, catalytic effect of APP and SiO2 crosslinking network promoted PA6 to form a dense and stable char layer, which protected PA6 composites from the flame. The strategy of synergistic flame retardant in this paper provides a valuable solution for reducing the amount of flame retardant.