Citation

Shang K, Yang JC, Cao Z, Liao W, Wang YZ, Schiraldi DA. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017; 9(27): 22985-22993.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/acsami.7b06096

PMID

28621921

Abstract

Inorganic silica-based aerogels, earliest and widely-used aerogels, have poorer mechanical properties than their organic substitutes, which are flammable. In this study, a novel polymeric aerogel with high strength, inherent flame retardancy and cost-effectiveness, which is based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) crosslinked with melamine-formaldehyde (MF), was prepared under aqueous condition with an eco-friendly freeze-drying and post-curing process. Combined with the additional rigid MF network and benifited from the resulting unique infrastructure of inter-crosslinked flexible PVA segments and rigid MF segments, PVA-based aerogels exibited a significantly decreased degradation rate, and sharply decreased peak heat release rate (PHRR) in cone calorimeter tests (by as much as 83%) compared with neat PVA. The polymer aerogels have a limiting oxygen index (LOI) as high as 36.5% and V-0 rating in UL-94 test. Furthermore, the aerogel samples exposured to harsh temperatures maintain their dimensions (< 10% change) and original mechanical strength and fire safety. Therefore, this work provide a novel stragegy for preparing pure organic polymeric aerogel materials with high mechanical strength, dimensional stability and fire safety.

Language: en