Flame retardancy and mechanical property of polypropylene/nylon nanocomposite reinforced with montmorillonite

When the halogenated flame retardant, decabromodiphenyl oxide, was added to the polypropylene/nylon blend, and was compounded with montmorillonite and compatibilizer, maleic anhydride polypropylene, the improvement of flame retardancy and mechanical properties was investigated. The degree of dispersion between polymer resin and inorganic nanoparticles was investigated, and the flame retardancy and mechanical properties was measured quantitatively. XRD results showed that the montmorillonite was completely exfoliated after polypropylene/nylon nanocomposites was mixed above twice. By compounding with montmorillonite, polypropylene/nylon blend system was overcome the deterioration of flame retardancy. The tensile strength and impact strength were slightly increased, and by compounding with montmorillonite, the additional increase in mechanical properties was obtained. Therefore, the flame retardancy of polypropylene / nylon blend was decreased by adding nylon, but by compounding with inorganic nanoparticle, improvement of the flame retardancy and mechanical properties was obtained.