The general objective of EPOXYPHOSDEG is to form, manage and specialize a young team of researchers in the development of new multicomponent polymeric materials as potential future candidates for protective coatings, and to test the flame resistance in correlation with thermal decomposition and artificial accelerated UV aging mechanisms, simulating environmental conditions. Microbiological testing will also be undertaken. The multicomponent polymeric systems will be designed as semi-interpenetrating polymer networks based on crosslinked epoxy network and an oligophosphonate containing aromatic polyester. The main idea of the project is to evaluate the thermal and photochemical behavior of these materials and to correlate them with their flame retardant capacity.

The specific objectives of the project are as follows:

I. Obtaining of new S–IPNs based on crosslinked epoxy network and an oligophosphonate and their antifungal testing, structural and physico–chemical characterization.

II. Evaluating the thermal behaviour of the S–IPNs in inert and thermo-oxidative atmospheres, focusing on: determination of kinetic parameters values of the thermal decomposition processes as recommended by the International Confederation for Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry (ICTAC), evolved gas analyses during thermal decomposition through coupled TG-FTIR and Py-GC-MS techniques.

III. Determination of the photochemical stability of the S–IPNs, focusing on: evaluation of irradiation dose influence on the materials photostability, investigation of surface properties modification (colour, UV–Vis, SEM-EDX) during photoirradiation, establishment of photodecomposition mechanisms and their correlation with the samples fire retardant capacity