Flame Retardants - July 2010

This month we're looking at Flame Retardants.

Plastics and elastomers with flame retardant properties are all around us in our homes and work places from the building infrastructure and the paint on the walls through to the TVs, fridges, computers and kettles we use every day. They are essential in our cars, trucks and planes in hoses, pipes, panels and seats. Flame retardant materials have become ubiquitous because they save countless lives by reducing the impact of fires. First and foremost they aim to dramatically delay the point at which a material ignites, if not prevent it completely. After that point they significantly slow the rate of spread of a fire, reduce the levels of heat, smoke and toxic chemicals given off and also make the fire easier to extinguish.

It's clearly very important to add flame retardants to polymers for many end-use applications. However, as with any polymer additive, there are environmental and health concerns, particularly in terms of the end of the product's life - if items with flame retardants in them are not disposed of correctly there is a potential pollution hazard. Developments continue to find flame retardant additives that can be easily mixed in with polymers and will serve their purpose in reducing the impact of fires without posing any health or environmental threat.

Abstracts

Please see below a selection of abstracts highlighted in the July Newsletter. These are records which relate to Flame Retardants that have been recently added to the Polymer Library.

Click on the 7-digit accession numbers to find out about ordering a copyright-cleared full text copy of the items shown.

1063716 - NEW PRODUCTS FROM TEIJIN CHEMICALS LTD. (short article)
Teijin Chemicals Ltd. has developed a transparent, flame-retardant polycarbonate, which is claimed to be the thinnest of its kind and is bromine- and phosphorus- free. This ultra-thin resin will be supplied in the form of grades for injection moulding and extrusion moulding. This is a short article.
Plastics Engineering, 66, No.4, April 2010, p.23, ISSN: 0091-9578

1063579 - MODIFICATION OF PUR-PIR FOAMS BY BOROORGANIC COMPOUND OBTAINED ON THE BASIS OF BIS(HYDROXYMETHYL)UREA
The preparation of a boroorganic polyol from N,N'-bis(methyleneoxy-2-hydroxyethyl)urea and boric acid and its application as a polyol component and flame retardant for rigid polyurethane-isocyanurate foams are reported. The foams possess reduced brittleness, higher ultimate compression strength and significantly reduced flammability when compared with standard foams. 12 refs.
Polimery, 55, No.5, 2010, p.373-378, ISSN: 0032-2725 :
Paciorek-Sadowska J

1063536 - EFFECT OF ULTRAFINE ZINC BORATE ON THE SMOKE SUPPRESSION AND TOXICITY REDUCTION OF A LOW-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/INTUMESCENT FLAME-RETARDANT SYSTEM
LDPE, LDPE treated with an intumescent flame retardant, and LDPE treated with an intumescent flame retardant and ultra fine zinc borate were combusted under irradiation. The production of smoke, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide were investigated with cone calorimetry. The components of the pyrolytic gas and its contents were identified and measured with pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. 27 refs.
Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 117, No.1, 5th July 2010, p.443-449, ISSN: 0021-8995, DOI: 10.1002/app.31969
Wu Z; Hu Y; Shu W

1063468 - ITALMATCH EXTENDS PHOSLITE FLAME RETARDANT RANGE (short article)
The commercial launch of an addition to an existing range of fully colourable phosphorus-containing flame retardants is reported. The new product to claimed to offer a very effective solution for flame-proofing both unfilled and glass fibre-reinforced poly(butylene terephthalate) and glass fibre-reinforced polyamide-6, imparting outstanding mechanical properties and meeting vertical burning and glow wire ignition temperature requirements.
Additives for Polymers, April 2010, p.3-4, ISSN: 0306-3747

1063455 - QUANTIFICATION OF ZINC HYDROXYSTANNATE AND STANNATE SYNERGIES IN HALOGEN-CONTAINING FLAME-RETARDANT POLYMERIC FORMULATIONS
The preparation of flame retardant polymer formulations based on poly(vinyl chloride) plasticised with diisononyl phthalate or an aryl phosphate, thermoset polyester resin, and polyamide-6 with decabromodiphenyl ether, brominated epoxy resin and dibromoneopentyl glycol as halogen-containing flame retardants, and zinc hydroxystannate, zinc stannate, zinc borate, aluminium trihydrate and antimony(III) oxide as synergists is described. The flammability properties of the formulations were investigated by limiting oxygen index, vertical burning and cone calorimetry measurements, and the results are discussed in terms of the effectiveness of the synergists. 22 refs.
Journal of Fire Sciences, 28, No.3, May 2010, p.217-248, ISSN: 0734-9041, DOI: 10.1177/0734904109344302
Horrocks A R; Smart G; Nazare S; Kandola B; Price D

1063406 - THERMAL ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES AS A PRIMARY SIGN FOR FIRE RETARDANCY OF NEW TEXTILE BACK-COATING FORMULATIONS
The thermal, mechanical and flammability properties of cotton fabrics back-coated with a flame retardant formulation based on binder and polyacrylate thickener with various proportions of sodium carbonate and chlorodimalonylurea phosphine oxide, derived from diethyl malonate by successive reactions with urea and phosphorus oxychloride, were investigated by TGA, DSC, LOI, flame spread and tensile strength measurements. The results are discussed in terms of the use of thermal analysis techniques to predict fire retardance properties of back-coated cotton samples. 17 refs.
Journal of Industrial Textiles, 39, No.4, April 2010, p.357-376, ISSN: 1528-0837, DOI: 10.1177/1528083709347122
Hassan M A; Hammoda H A; Salah A M; Attia N F

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