Flame Retardancy of Thermoset Polymers Based on Nanoparticles and Carbon Nanotubes

An overview of the effects of different nanoscale materials on the flammability of two thermoset polymers is presented and discussed in this paper. Its goal is to bring together our recent experimental results obtained for different material systems of nanoclays, nano-magnesium hydroxide (nano-Mg(OH)2) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) in epoxy and unsaturated polyester resins; some of these results have already been published elsewhere. It is shown that these nanoparticles can be used to lower the heat release rate (HRR) of the polymers when exposed to a fire situation. On the other hand, in the majority of the cases this low flammability of polymer nanocomposites is only achieved in terms of HRR, but fails in terms of time-to-ignition or the extent of smoke released.