Effect of cyano ionic liquid on flame retardancy of melamine.

Melamine is one of the most extensively applied flame retardants due to its virtue of high thermostability, weak hydrophilicity, and low pollution. For the time being, its efficiency is hardly to be ideal when it acts alone. In previous explorations, melamine could be compellingly modified on the flame retardancy when it was blended with ionic liquids or the compounds comprising cyano groups. With the aim to integrate the advantages of both the groups of substances together, the cyano ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, was combined with melamine to improve the thermal stability of this widely used flame retardant in the research. The simultaneous thermogravimetric analyzer was applied to gain related parameters to determine whether the addition of the ionic liquid has the possibility to result in the increase in residue and the improvement in the thermal properties. Model-free and Coats-Redfern methods were related together to obtain the mechanism of decomposition. The experimental results demonstrate that the cyano ionic liquid possesses a promoting synergistic effect on the thermal behaviors of melamine, indicating its outstanding application prospect in practical utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]