Advancements in traditional and nanosized flame retardants for polymers—A review

Abstract

Synthetic polymers are ubiquitous materials widely used in construction, automotive, electronics, and countless commercial products. With the growing trend of polymer applications in everyday life, upholding the rigorous fire safety regulations has become a matter of concern. In this regard, numerous studies have been conducted for improving the fire retardancy of polymers, mainly through incorporating a diverse group of fire‐retardant compounds into polymer‐based composites. This review article aims to present a comprehensive overview of recent advances in the fire‐retardant categories for polymeric materials especially emphasizing the nanosized fire retardants. Along with an attempt to focus attention on the consumption of conventional and possibly harmful fire retardants, potential eco‐friendly alternatives are represented. A detailed discussion on the flame retardation mechanisms and conventional fire characterization techniques are also discussed.

Environmentally Friendly, High-Performance Fire Retardant Made from Cellulose and Graphite

“…Moreover, new demands arise continuously [ 50 , 51 ], spurring a steady research and development activity that is evidenced by hundreds of annual publications and 912 patent applications in the USPTO, since 2001. For this reason, many chemical and materials researchers target new fire retardants and suppressants [ 52 , 53 ].…”

Introductory Chapter: Flame Retardant and Thermally Insulating Polymers

“…However, polymers are combustible because of their chemical structures that are made up by carbon and hydrogen atoms [6][7][8]. To meet flammability standards, flame retardants for fireproof polymers have been developed [9,10].…”

“…Understanding mechanisms for fire retardancy is essential for developing new effective flame retardants. Improving fire retardant behaviors of polymers play key roles in future industrial applications such as furnishings, transportation products and building construction materials [9,[21][22][23][24][25].…”

“…Over the past decades, different flame retardants for polymers have been developed [20]. Mechanisms of polymer flame retardancy have been further investigated [9,20,26,27]. Flame retardants have been generally broken into categories based on chemical compositions, which are grouped based on whether they contain bromine, chlorine, phosphorus, nitrogen, boron, or inorganic fillers (metals, etc.)…”

“…It is widely recognized that all categories of flame retardants act either in vapor phase or condensed phase to inhibit or to stop combustion processes through a chemical and/ or physical mechanism [29]. Flame retardants can interfere with combustion during a particular stage, e.g., during heating, pyrolysis, ignition, or flame spread [9,20,27,30]. Flame retardants can either act chemically (reaction in the condensed or gas phase) and/or physically (by cooling, formation of a protective layer or fuel dilution) [17].…”