Citation

Naik AD, Fontaine G, Severine B, Bourbigot S. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2015; 7(38): 21208-21217.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/acsami.5b05164

PMID

26348914

Abstract

Broad spectrum of applications from 'Salen' based Schiff bases tagged them as versatile multifunctional materials. But often their applicability is bounded by temperature threshold and thus rarely crossed into high temperature applications. Our investigation on a classical Schiff base N,N'-bis(4-hydroxysalicylidene)ethylenediamine (L2) reveals that it has an intriguing combating response in elevated temperature/fire scenario. L2 resists and regulates thermal degradation by forming an ablative surface and acts as a thermal shield. Polycondensation via covalent cross-linking forming hyperbranched cross-linked resins is found to constitute the ablative surface. This is a unique example of resin formation from Schiff bases mimicking operational strategy of high-heat resistance phenolic resin. Further applicability of L2 as flame retardant was tested in an engineering polymer polyamide-6 and is found to reinforce the polymer against fire risks by the formation of an intumescent coating. This paves away a new strategic avenue in safeguarding polymeric materials towards fire risks and also, finding promising debut in thermal protective applications.

Language: en