Fire Retardancy of Fiber Reinforced Polymer Composites Coated with POSS/Clay/MWCNTs Hybrid Buckypaper

A hybrid buckypaper consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs),clay and polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane(POSS) was fabricated through vacuum filtration method. The as-prepared buckypaper(or hybrid buckypaper) can be incorporated onto the surface of fiber reinforced polymer composite as surface fire shields. The morphology and pore size distribution of the MWCNTs buckypaper were characterized with field emission scanning electron microscope(FESEM) and Barret-Joyner-Halenda(BJH) method. The fire retardant performance of composite laminates coated with(or without) the buckypaper was thoroughly evaluated by cone calorimeter testing at a radiant heat flux of 50 kW/m2. Compared with the contral composite,the peak heat release rate(PHRR) of composite surface coated MWCNTs buckypaper or the hybrid buckypaper reduced more than 20.2% and 35%,respectively. The CO production rate and the smoke production rate reduced obviously. The formation of compact char material can be observed on the surface of the composite residues and analyzed by FESEM,the fire retardant property of composite can be improved by surface coated hybrid buckypaper.