Effect of Clay Network Formation on Flame Retardancy of Polyethylene terephthalate/montmorillonite Nanocomposites

Considering the importance of determining potential hazards and factors that can cause an unexpected fire and due to the important role of nanotechnology to achieve more effective properties, this paper presents our experiments on preparing nanocomposites based on Poly(ethylene terephthalate)(PET) and montmorillonite (MMT) as organoclay via melt blending with different clay loadings to investigate their combustion behavior. The main objective of this work was employing cone calorimeter as a perfect device to investigate all combustion parameters such as time to ignition (TTI), heat release rate (HRR), mass loss rate(MLR), CO and CO2 release and peak of heat release rate (pHRR). Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Cone calorimeter, limiting oxygen index (LOI) were employed to measure thermal stability and flammability of nanocomposite samples. Morphology and rheology of clay /PET nanocomposites also were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM).The relationship between decrease of intrinsic viscosity and thermal behavior of sample also was studied. Results indicate that clay network was formed in nanocomposites samples which strongly affected flammability of burning samples and resulted more residue during combustion which leads to decrease in dripping of PET during melting.