Enhanced Fire Retardancy of Epoxy Resins upon Addition of Boron Nitride Nanoparticles Using Boron Polyol Complex

Fire retardancy and thermal management improvements in epoxy resins can critically impact their use in electronics for IoT and 5G devices. This study proposes a facile method to improve the fire retardancy and thermal properties of epoxy resins (EPs) by incorporating boron nitride nanoparticles (BNNPs) with boron polyol complex (BPC) to form an ionanofluid and explores the synergistic effect of polyelectrolytes with BN. The modified multifunctional additive BPC-BNNPs were then used for the functional modification of epoxy resin. Our detailed tests and analyses on these materials confirm that by adding 0.2 wt% of BNNPs in the EP-BPC-BN complex achieved a V-0 rating in the UL-94 vertical burning test. The resultant composite demonstrated that the modification of BN with the polyol complex imparted a low smoke and char formation in the modified epoxy composites. The current study shows that EP-BPC-BN complex has great potential as a thermal interface material for the thermal management of electronics or similar applications. The presented EP-BPC-BN composite can also be utilised as a fire-retardant coating, adhesive, and binding agent in the aerospace, transportation, and building industries.