Open Access

ARTICLE

Study on Toughening Phenolic Foams in Phosphorus-Containing Tung Oil-Based Derivatives

by Fei Song¹, Puyou Jia¹, Yanan Xiao², Caiying Bo¹, Lihong Hu¹, Yonghong Zhou¹

1 Institute of Chemical Industry of Forest Products, Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF); National Engineering Laboratory for Biomass Chemical Utilization; Co-Innovation Center of Efficient Processing and Utilization of Forest Resources; Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering of Forest Products, National Forestry and Grassland Administration; Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy and Materials, Nanjing, 210042, China.
2 School of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 124221, China.

*Corresponding Authors: Yonghong Zhou. Email: ; Puyou Jia. Email: .

Journal of Renewable Materials 2019, 7(10), 1011-1021. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2019.08044

Abstract

Phenolic foams (PFs) as thermal insulation material with outstanding flame retardancy are required to match society’s ever expanding safety expectations; however, a trade off exists between flame retardancy and toughness. Here, for the first time, we synthesized a novel reactive phosphorus containing tung oil based derivative and used it to toughen PF, resulting in PFs with a combination of excellent mechanical properties and flame retardancy. Compared with pure PF, the modified PFs exhibit enhanced mechanical properties, with specific compressive and flexural strengths as high as 5.67 MPa and 12.46 MPa, which represent increases of 90.67% and 178.7% over those of pure PF, respectively. Meanwhile, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) values of the modified PFs are improved as much as 40.83%. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs show that the microstructure of the modified PFs is better than that of pure PF, with a more uniform cell morphology, a narrower pore size distribution range, and a smaller average pore size, all of which are beneficial to the foam’s mechanical properties. This study provides a scientific paradigm for the development of advanced PFs based on renewable biological resources.

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