Preparation of Flame Retardant Polycarbonate‐acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Composite using Graphene Nanoplatelets and Potassium Perfluorobutane Sulfonate Additives

Abstract

AbstractA flame‐retardant composite material (designated as GFPA) was prepared by incorporating a blend of polycarbonate‐acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PC/ABS, 80/20 wt%) and two additives of potassium perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) at 0.5 wt% and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) at 1 wt%. The structural characterization results indicated that incorporating both GNP and PFBS significantly improved the dispersibility of the additives compared to using either of them individually. Furthermore, PFBS exhibited dual properties of a flame‐retardant and PC/ABS compatibilizer, which resulted in improved flame‐retardancy and mechanical characteristics of the GFPA material. The GFPA material was found to exhibit good flame‐retardancy properties with a V‐0 rating as determined by the UL‐94 method and a limited oxygen index of 27.6 %. In addition, the GFPA material exhibited remarkably improved mechanical properties such as enhanced impact strength (1.33 times), tensile strength (3.73 times), and flexural strength (8.61 times) compared to those of the neat PC/ABS composite.