Effect of rubbers on the flame retardancy of EVA/ultrafine fully vulcanized powdered rubber/nanomagnesium hydroxide ternary composites

Abstract Two flame retardant ternary composites of ethylene‐vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA)/ultrafine fully vulcanized powdered rubber (UFPR)/nanomagnesium hydroxide (MH) were studied in this article. It has been found that carboxyl acrylonitrile butadiene UFPR (CNB‐UFPR) and acrylonitrile butadiene UFPR (NB‐UFPR) have different effect on the flame retardancy of related materials when they are used together with nano‐MH. CNB‐UFPR is in favor of lowering the material's heat release rate during its combustion, while NB‐UFPR benefits the material on the resistance to ignition. Observation on the microstructure of the composites by transmission electron micrograph revealed that the aforementioned two ternary composites have quite different morphology. EVA/CNB‐UFPR/nano‐MH composite exhibits partial encapsulation structure, while EVA/NB‐UFPR/nano‐MH composite has full separation structure. POLYM. COMPOS., 28:479–483, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers