Fabrication of fullerene decorated by iron compound and its effect on the thermal stability and flammability for high-density polyethylene

Fullerene decorated by iron compound (C₆₀-Fe) is fabricated via solution reaction and characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Upon incorporating C₆₀-Fe into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) matrix by melt blending, the thermal and thermo-oxidative stability of HDPE are considerably increased, the oxidative induction time (OIT) is dramatically extend. When the concentration of C₆₀-Fe reached 5 wt%, the onset degradation temperature in air increased from 352°C to 422°C, and the OIT dramatically delayed from 4.5 to 47.8 minutes. Moreover, from microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC), C₆₀-Fe can reduce the peak heat release rate (PHRR), heat release capacity (HRC), and total heat release (THR) values of the composites, all of which are very important parameters for evaluating the fire retardancy of a polymeric material.