Due to the corrosion resistance of carbon steel, bridge constructions are currently protected against corrosion by applied coating systems. These coating systems need to be renewed after approximately 25 50 years. Galvanized constructions without any welding areas at the construction site could be prepared as grouted joints and can be used without any renewing for about 100 years.
Flame retarded poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) is required for electronic applications and is mostly achieved by low molar mass additives so far. Three phosphorus-containing polyesters are suggested as halogen-free and polymeric flame retardants for PBT. Flame retardancy was achieved according to cone calorimeter experiments showing that the peak heat release rate and total heat evolved were reduced because of flame inhibition and condensed-phase activity. The presented polymers containing derivatives of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide form immiscible blend systems with PBT. Shear-rheology shows an increase in storage moduli at low frequencies. This is proposed as quantitative measure for the degree of phase interaction. The phase structure of the blends depends on the chemical structure of the phosphorus polyester and was quite different, depending also on the viscosity ratio between matrix and second phase. A lower viscosity ratio leads to two types of phases with spherical and additionally continuous droplets. Addition of the flame retardants showed no influence on the dielectric properties but on the mechanical behavior. The polymeric flame retardants significantly diminish the impact strength because of several reasons: (1) high brittleness of the phosphorus polyesters themselves, (2) thermodynamic immiscibility, and (3) weak phase adhesion. By adding a copolymer consisting of the two base polymers to the blend, an improvement of impact strength was obtained. The copolymer particularly acts as compatibilizer between the phases and therefore leads to a smaller phase size and to a stronger phase adhesion due to the formation of fibrils.
Pyrolysis, fire behaviour and mechanical properties of a blend of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) with a phosphorus polyester (PET-P-DOPO) are investigated and compared with PBT/aluminium diethylphosphinate (AlPi-Et) composites. The PBT/PET-P-DOPO is immiscible and exhibits gas-phase and condensed-phase activity, whereas AlPi-Et in PBT results mainly in flame inhibition. Only higher loadings of AlPi-Et yield significant condensed-phase activity. Using the same phosphorus content, PBT/PET-P-DOPO and PBT/AlPi-Et exhibit similar reductions in fire load (22%) and flame spread (17% assessed by fire growth rate, FIGRA), compared with PBT. In contrast to AlPi-Et, the addition of PET-P-DOPO does not decrease the tensile strength of PBT. Thus, PET-P-DOPO is an interesting alternative to low-molecular-weight flame retardants.
PET-P-DOPO is a phosphorus-containing polyester prepared from the glycol ether of the hydroquinone derivative of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) and dimethyl terephthalate. PET-P-DOPO and a blend of PBT with PET-PDOPO were investigated with respect to pyrolysis and fire behavior. PET-P-DOPO achieves a V-0 rating in the UL 94 test and exhibits a high LOI of 39.3%. The outstanding flame-retardant properties of PET-P-DOPO are the result of three different mechanisms (flame inhibition, charring and a protection effect of the intumescent char) that are active in PET-P-DOPO. The fire load and the peak of heat release rate (pHRR) are reduced to 34% and 17%, respectively. The char exhibits an intumescent multicellular structure enabling it to act as an efficient protection layer. As PET-P-DOPO is immiscible with PBT, the blend shows a lower breaking elongation than pure PBT. Compared to pure PET-P-DOPO, the flame retardancy of the blend is decreased according to the fraction of PET-P-DOPO used. Nevertheless, the flame-retardancy of PET-P-DOPO in the blend was good enough to compete with PBT flame-retarded by AlPi-Et (aluminum diethylphosphinate) that was used as a Benchmark.
Comparative study on Polyesters with systematically altered Phosphorus containing side groups
(2011)
Pyrolysis and fire behaviour of a phosphorus polyester (PET-P-DOPO) have been investigated. The glycol ether of the hydroquinone derivative of 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide was used as a reactive halogen-free flame retardant in PET-P-DOPO. PET-P-DOPO is proposed as an alternative to poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) with established halogen-free additives. It exhibits a high LOI (39.3%) and achieves V-0 classification in the UL 94 test. Three different mechanisms (flame inhibition, charring and a protection effect by the intumescent char) contribute to the flame retardancy in PET-P-DOPO and were quantified with respect to different fire risks. The fire load was reduced by 66% of the PBT characteristic. The reduction is the superposition of the relative reduction due to flame inhibition (factor 0.625) and charring (factor 0.545). The peak of heat release rate (pHRR) was reduced by 83% due to flame inhibition, charring and the protection properties of the char (factor 0.486). The strength of all three mechanisms is in the same order of magnitude. The intumescent multicellular structure enables the char to act as an efficient protection layer. PBT flame-retarded with aluminium diethylphosphinate was used as a benchmark to assess the performance of PET-P-DOPO absolutely, as well as versus the phosphorus content. PET-P-DOPO exhibits superior fire retardancy, in particular due to the additional prolongation of the time to ignition and increase in char yield. PET-P-DOPO is a promising alternative material for creating halogen-free flame-retarded polyesters.