The investigation of flame retardancy for polyethylene treated by plasma grafting of methylacrylic acid

An attempt has been made in this study to render polymers flame retardancy by a grafting method induced by plasma: Based on polyethylene, it was found that the grafting yield was influenced by the grafting reaction conditions when polyethylene was grafted with methylacrylic acid. The flame retardancy of the grafted sample was characterized. It was found that the time to ignition of the grafted sample was extended. The limiting oxygen index and char residue were increased. This indicates that the side groups of -COOH, -COO-Na+ and -COO-K+ in the grafted layer can not only be charred in the thermal degradation stage, but also promote the charring of the substrate polymer.