Carbon fiber reinforced modified bisphenol-a diglycidylether epoxy composites for flame retardant applications

We have developed novel multifunctional flame retardant polymer composites that exhibit better fire performance. Flame retardant polymer composites are prepared by infusing woven carbon fibers with phosphoric-acid-modified crosslinked diglycidylether of bisphenol-A epoxy matrix through the resin infusion under flexible tooling (RIFT) process. In this paper, we have explored various design factors of the fire retarding epoxy resin by modifying the resin physically as well as chemically. Different flame retardant epoxy samples are evaluated by compression test, UL 94, thermogravimetric analysis and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis. The fabricated flame retardant polymer composites have been characterized using in-plane shear test, to estimate the structural properties, and UL-94 test, to estimate the fire performance. In this study, a flame retardant composite, simultaneously exhibiting a UL-94 rating of V-0 and a shear modulus of 9.5 GPa, has been reported. (paper)