Preparation, flame retardancy and thermal behavior of a novel UV-curable coating containing phosphorus and nitrogen

A novel phosphorus monomer, 2,2-dimethyl-1,3-propanediol acryloyloxyethyl phosphate (DPHA), has been synthesized through phosphorus oxychloride reacting with neopentyl glycol and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA). Its structure was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P NMR). A series of UV-curable resins were manufactured by blending DPHA with triglycidyl isocyanurate acrylate (TGICA) at different weight ratio. The fire performance was examined by Microscale Combustion Calorimetry (MCC). The results obtained from MCC indicated that the addition of DPHA to TGICA decreased the peak heat release rate (PHRR), heat release capacity (HRC) and total heat of combustion (THC). The char residues of the composites were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thermal decomposition behavior of DPHA/TGICA composites was characterized by using thermogravimetric analysis/infrared spectrometry (TGA-IR). The test results indicated that when the weight ratio of DPHA: TGICA = 1/1, the onset temperature of the composite was highest and the largest char residue at 700 °C was observed. The change of chemical structure during the thermal degradation process was monitored by real-time FTIR analysis. TGA-IR results indicated that the evolved products were CO, CO2, water, NH3, carbonyl, phosphorus oxides and aromatic compounds according to the temperature of onset formation.