Novel Ti3C2Tx MXene/epoxy intumescent fire‐retardant coatings for ancient wooden architectures

• Published in: Journal of applied polymer science Vol. 138; no. 27
• Main Authors: Huang, Shan, Wang, Lei, Li, Yuchen, Liang, Chaobo, Zhang, Junliang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 15.07.2021; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Carbon nitride; coatings; composites; Epoxy resins; Fire hazards; Fire prevention; flame retardance; Historical buildings; Industrial applications; Materials science; Melamine; Metal carbides; MXenes; Polymer matrix composites; Polymers; resins; Thermal stability; Ti3C2Tx MXene; Transition metals; Wooden structures
• ISSN: 0021-8995; 1097-4628
• DOI: 10.1002/app.50649

Most of the ancient buildings are made of inflammable wooden structures, which have serious potential safety hazards. Applying fire‐retardant coating is one of the simplest and most effective means of fire prevention in ancient wooden buildings. In this work, we have demonstrated that the Ti3C2Tx transition metal carbide/carbonitride (MXene) was applied as the synergetic agent, waterborne epoxy resin as the film‐forming agent, ammonium polyphosphate, dipentaerythritol, and melamine (P‐C‐N system) as the intumescent fire‐retardant system to prepare Ti3C2Tx/epoxy intumescent fire‐retardant coating (TEIFC). The results showed that MXene has significantly improved the fire‐retardant performance of the coating. By incorporating 3 wt% Ti3C2Tx (TEIFC‐3, with 62 wt% P‐C‐N system), the coating displayed UL‐94 V‐0 rating with the limiting oxygen index value of 38%. In addition, the combination of Ti3C2Tx and P‐C‐N system enhanced the Shore hardness of the coating to 95 SHD (TEIFC‐3). Furthermore, TEIFC‐3 presented high thermal stability with the THRI of 177.0°C and Tdmax of 380.5°C. This work provides a novel strategy for the design and preparation of intumescent fire‐retardant coating, which will greatly broaden the industrial applications of MXene‐based polymer composites in the field of fire prevention of ancient buildings.