Thermal and fire performance of flame-retarded epoxy resin: Investigating interaction between resorcinol bis(diphenyl phosphate) and epoxy nanocomposites

The flammability of polymeric materials has always been a great concern, because it limits their use in applications where fire safety is a key criterion. The use of both halogenated and non-halogenated conventional flame retardants has proved to be an effective solution to the problem, and resulted in materials with improved thermal stability and reduced flammability. However, studies have shown that the addition of high concentrations of flame retardants in a polymeric system often causes significant deterioration of the mechanical properties of the material. Moreover, environmental concerns have also beenraised regarding the production of toxic gases during the combustion of polymers that contain halogenated flame retardants