Flame retardants for building materials

Flame retardants are increasingly being used to produce building materials and other products for fire safety protection. As flame retardants can stop or slow the spread of fire, countries around the world have adopted regulations requiring the use of flame retardant materials. Despite the ongoing debate on the health impact of flame retardants, rising production of halogen-free flame retardants has brought considerable supply to various industries where safety is of paramount importance.

Demand for non-halogen flame retardants is expected to grow annually by 7% to hit over 1,730 kilo tonnes by 2018.In value terms, the market could reach $2.15 billion in 2018, up by 8% from 2012 to 2018. As Transparency Market Research indicates in its report, the global demand for non-halogenated flame retardants is expected to be driven by fire safety regulations concerning risk of fire hazards in end-use industries such as electrical and construction. Halogenated retardants are considered to be toxic and have adverse effects on human and animal life, owing to which end-use industries are now shifting towards non-halogenated or halogen-free flame retardants.

Flame retardants function by raising the threshold temperature at which a material ignites and slows down the rate at which materials burn, thus minimizing the spread of fire. Three major categories of building materials that require flame environmentallyretardants include cables and electrical wires, insulation and structural elements.

For wires and cables, the preference of builders involves the use of plastic insulation treated with flame retardants to coat or cover wires and cables to prevent the spread of fire or flame along the jacketing, or protective covering for conductors and cables. For insulation materials for instance, polystyrene foam boards and rigid polyurethane foam panels with flame retardant added to them can minimise the impact of fire-related accidents.

New flame retardants in the market

Clariant launched new tailor-made flame retardant solutions for hightemperature thermoplastics at the recent K 2013. The company has expanded its toolbox of cutting-edge, efficient phosphinate flame retardants with new tailor made synergistic formulations for thermoplastics used in demanding environments. Exolit? OP 1400 (TP) for polyamides and Exolit OP 1260 (TP) for polyesters offer the plastics industry new opportunities to improve both fire safety and processing and mechanical performance at the same time.

Clariant’s new synergistic formulations overcome the traditional challenge for flame retardants posed by the high processing temperatures of polyamides and the high temperatures where engineering thermoplastic polyesters are used. Both Exolit OP 1400 (TP) and Exolit OP 1260 (TP) achieve UL 94V-0 classification down to 0.4mm thickness and CTI values of 600 Volt.

“New Exolit OP 1400 (TP) and OP 1260 (TP) build on the capabilities of Clariant’s existing OP grades already widely used in polyamides and polyesters, mainly in reinforced compounds,” comments Mr. Michael Grosskopf, Head of Business Unit Additives, Clariant. “As synergistic formulations they go a step further, responding to market and regulatory demands for more environmentallyretardants friendly solutions that can be tailored to the fire protection and particular performance challenges of engineering thermoplastics.”

Exolit OP 1400 (TP) provides enhanced thermal stability to polyamides which makes it especially suitable for high processing temperatures and compounds that are injection moAir Force 1 Low Flyknit