TY - JOUR A1 - Yu, D. A1 - Kleemeier, M. A1 - Wu, Guang Mei A1 - Schartel, Bernhard A1 - Liu, W.Q. A1 - Hartwig, A. T1 - A low melting organic-inorganic glass and its effect on flame retardancy of clay/epoxy composites JF - Polymer N2 - A low-melting organic-inorganic glass with a high molecular weight soluble in solvents was synthesized by hydrolytic polycondensation of phenyltriethoxysilane followed by a subsequent heat treatment. Softening point and thermostability were strongly increased after heat treatment. The composites of glass/epoxy and glass/clay/epoxy were studied with respect to their thermal properties, fire behavior and mechanical properties. Heat release rate as measured by cone calorimetry was remarkably reduced in the presence of glass, relative to neat epoxy resin and polymer/clay composites. The combination of glass and clay is a promising approach. It showed mainly superposition and even synergistic effects in some fire properties for higher filler concentrations due to the formation of an enhanced barrier. The structure of residue was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). KW - Low-melting glass KW - Clay KW - Epoxy resin PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2011.03.033 SN - 0032-3861 SN - 1873-2291 VL - 52 IS - 10 SP - 2120 EP - 2131 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-23858 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -