The Consideration about Combustion Inhibition and Degradational Behavior of Poly(phenylene ether) Alloy

Abstract

In this study, the flame retardancy of polyphenylene ether(PPE) and PPE/polystyrene(PS) alloy was examined by thermal degradation behavior and other considerations. As a result, various carboxylates were found to have a notable effect on the flame retardancy of PPE/PS alloy though the carboxylates are widely used as safe food additives. Especially, sodium carboxylate with benzene ring showed the strongest flame retardancy among the candidates. Based on the surface observation and its analysis of PPE/PS alloy in early stage of burning test, on the other hand, it was found that the both components of the alloy are not pyrolyzed independently at each tem-perature and the alloy is pyrolyzed in relatively homogeneous manner such as a single component polymer. In addition, the pyrolysis products of PPE were composed of many kinds of monomer and dimer. The formation process of monomer component was examined by pyrogram analysis.