Flame Retardants » synergist http://flameretardants.adjrevolution.com A discussion of flame retardants and their applications Sat, 25 Apr 2009 12:19:25 +0000 http://adjrevolution.com/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Fire Inhibiting Mechanisms of Halogen Compounds http://flameretardants.adjrevolution.com/2009/04/23/fire-inhibiting-mechanisms-of-halogen-compounds/ http://flameretardants.adjrevolution.com/2009/04/23/fire-inhibiting-mechanisms-of-halogen-compounds/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 13:06:19 +0000 Victor http://flameretardants.adjrevolution.com/?p=8 The most common type of flame retardant used in products today is the halogen/antimony oxide combination. The antimony trioxide is a synergist acting with a halogenated compound to use radical quenching as a means to slow the spread of fire. Brominated and chlorinated compounds are used most often. When using a brominated compound it undergoes thermal degradation when exposed to high temperatures and releases hydrogen bromide. The hydrogen bromide reacts with the hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals that are present in the flame resulting in water and bromine radicals. Bromine radicals are far less reactive than hydrogen and hydroxyl radicals and have much less potential to feed the combustion reaction.

This type of flame retardant is the most effective in the market place today, but there is one downside. The hydrogen bromide or hydrogen chloride released during the degradation process is corrosive. That means that this type of flame retardant might not be the best choice for electronics or other applications that would be sensitive to corrosion. However, electronics do not tolerate being engulfed in flames very well either.

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