Flame retardance and shrinkage reduction of polystyrene modified with acrylate-containing phosphorus and crosslinkable spiro-orthoester moieties

Styrene was radically copolymerized with a spiro-orthoester with an acrylate group (SOE-AC), and terpolymerized with SOE-AC and diethyl(methacryloyloxymethyl)phosphonate (DEMMP). This was done for several different feed ratios, to obtain polymers with spiro-orthoester moieties in the side chain. These polymers were then crosslinked with ytterbium triflate, as cationic initiator, via the double ring-opening polymerization. The thermal stability and fire retardant properties of these materials were evaluated by TGA and LOI. The DEMMP-containing polymers give materials which were significantly more flame retardant than the nonphosphorus-containing materials, as indicated by the LOI measurements. The volume changes measured upon crosslinking of the polymers were evaluated by density measurements with a gas pycnometer. In all the cases, expansion was observed. This indicates that SOE-AC is an effective monomer for crosslinkable polymers without volume changes.