Enhancing the fire safety and mechanical performance of EVA/IFR cable materials via MXene by nano-synergistic strategy

For enhancing the mechanical and fire safety performance of ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) cable materials, IFR (ammonium polyphosphate and pentaerythritol) and MXene were added to EVA and the dispersion of nano-synergistic agent as well as its influence on the flame retardancy, and smoke reduction of EVA cable materials were studied. And the analysis was conducted on the flame retardant mechanism of EVA cable materials. The nano-synergistic agent MXene has the ability to distribute uniformly within the EVA matrix, resulting in EVA/IFR/MXene achieving a tensile strength of 10.6 MPa and an elongation at break of 637.8%. Moreover, the addition of the nano-synergistic agent MXene effectively delayed the thermal degradation of EVA cable materials and improved the amount of residual char. Compared with those of pure EVA, the peak heat release rate and total heat release of the EVA/IFR/MXene cable materials are decreased by 80.9% and 32.8%, respectively. Meanwhile, the emission of harmful gas is also decreased, indicating EVA/IFR/MXene has good fire safety. Thus, the nano-synergistic strategy offers a great method for achieving high-performance EVA cable materials.

Graphical Abstract