Special Issue "Flame Retardants"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Manfred Doering
Institute for Technical Chemistry - Division of Chemical-Physical Processing (ITC-CPV), Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Website: http://www.katalyseundmaterialien.de/
E-Mail:

Dear Colleagues,

A growing number of flame retardant polymers are used today in a variety of applications ranging from the electrical and electronic sector, transportation, to construction and housing. These developments are driven by the annual losses of life and property resulting from fires of polymeric materials in particular. The environmental and health properties of specific halogen flame retardants and the resulting state regulations of the last decade have promoted the demand of successful alternatives. Thus, the main goal of today’s research and development of flame retardant polymers is to integrate flame retardancy to polymers without serious change of material and processing parameters considering also environmental and health effects.

The main focuses of this special issue are advanced environmentally friendly flame retardant solutions (halogen-free, nanocomposites, synergism etc.) for different polymers, finding and elucidation of the mechanism of action, applications, and testing methods.

Prof. Dr. Manfred Doering
Guest Editor

Submission

All manuscripts should be submitted to materials@mdpi.org with a copy to the Guest Editor. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed Open Access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this Open Access journal is 800 CHF per accepted paper.

• environmentally friendly flame retardants
• fire retardant polymers (bulk, composites, textiles, foams)
• applications
• end of life disposal / recycling
• testing

Feature Papers

Type of Paper: Review
Title: New Trends in Reaction and Resistance to Fire of Fire-retarded Epoxies
Authors: Caroline Gérard ^1,2,3,4, Gaëlle Fontaine ^1,2,3,4 and Serge Bourbigot ^1,2,3,4
Affiliations: ¹ Univ Lille Nord de France, F-5900 Lille, France; E-Mails: cgerard@enscl.fr (C.G.); Gaelle.Fontaine@ensc-lille.fr (G.F.); Serge.Bourbigot@ensc-lille.fr (S.B.)
² ENSCL, ISP-UMET, F-59652 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
³ USTL, ISP-UMET, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
⁴ CNRS, UMR 8207, F-59652 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
Abstract: This paper focuses on current trends in the flame retardancy of epoxies. This review examines the incorporation of additives in these polymers, including synergism effects. Reactive flame-retardants, which are incorporated in the polymer backbone, are also reported. The use of fire-retardant epoxy coatings for materials protection is also considered.
Keywords: epoxy; fire-retardant; reaction to fire; resistance to fire; coatings

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Phosphorus-based Flame Retardancy Mechanisms - Old Hat or Starting Point for Future Development?
Author: Bernhard Schartel
Affiliation: BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, Unter den Eichen 87, 12205 Berlin, Germany; E-Mail: bernhard.schartel@bam.de
Abstract: Different kinds of additive and reactive phosphorus-containing flame retardants are increasingly successful as halogen-free alternatives for various polymeric materials and applications. Hereby phosphorus can act in the condensed phase by enhancing charring, yielding intumescence, or through inorganic glass formation, and in the gas phase through flame inhibition. Occurrence and efficiency depend not only on the flame retardant itself, but also on its interaction with pyrolysing polymeric material and additives. Flame retardancy is sensitive to modifyication of the flame retardant, using synergists/adjuvants and changing the polymeric material. A detailed understanding facilitates the launch of tailored and targeted development..
Keywords: fire retardancy; red phosphorus; phosphate; phosphonate; phosphinate; phosphine oxide; flame inhibition; charring; intumescence

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Aryl Polyphosphonates: Useful Halogen-Free Flame Retardants for Polymers
Authors: Li Chen and Yu-Zhong Wang
Affiliation: Center for Degradable and Flame-Retardant Polymeric Materials (ERCEPM-MoE), College of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China; E-mail: yzwang@scu.edu.cn (Y.-Z.W.)
Abstract: Aryl polyphosphonates have received wide applications as flame retardants in different polymer materials, including polycarbonate, polyesters, polyamides and some thermosets, particularly due to their satisfied thermal stability compared to phosphates and aliphatic phosphonates. This paper provides a brief overview of the main developments in aryl polyphosphonates and their derivatives for flame-retarding polymer materials, primarily based on the authors’ recent research work. The synthetic chemistry of these compounds is discussed along with their thermal stabilities and flame-retardant properties. Potential mechanisms of aryl polyphosphonates and their derivatives containing hetero elements which exhibit synergistic effect with phosphorus are also introduced.
Keywords: aryl polyphosphonates; flame retardant; thermal stability; mechanism

Regular Papers

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Influence of Nano-Fillers in Intumescent Fire Protective Coatings for Steel Structures
Authors: Y.Paul ^1,2,3,4, S.Duquesne ^1,2,3,4, S.Bourbigot ^1,2,3,4
Affiliations : ¹ Univ Lille Nord de France, F-5900 Lille, France
² ENSCL, UMET-ISP, F-59652 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France; E-Mail: sophie.duquesne@ensc-lille.fr
³ USTL, UMET-ISP, F-59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
⁴ CNRS, UMR8207, F-59652 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
Abstract: The aim of this work is to study the influence of nano-fillers on the fire protection of intumescent formulations designed for steel structure. The coating is based on a vinyl acetate copolymer resin into which intumescent fire retardant agents (ammonium polyphosphate, pentaerythritol and melamine) have been incorporated. As a preliminary study, the influence of the particle size of pentaerythritol on the fire protection performance of the coating is evaluated. The smallest particle size leads to the best protective behaviour. In a second part, the effect of different nano-fillers (varying their chemistry and their loading) on the thermal insulative properties and expansion rate is investigated. It is demonstrated that under a high heat flux, the use of nano-filler allows maintaining the char integrity during a longer time.
Keywords: Intumescent coating; Thermal insulation; Dynamic expansion; Nano-fillers

Type of Paper: Review
Title: A review of Polymer Blends Containing Flame Retardants and Nanoparticles
Authors: Seongchan Pack and Miriam Rafailovich
Affiliation: Materials Science and Engineering, Stony Brook Univiersty, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA; E-Mail: spack@ic.sunysb.edu
Abstract: Flame retardants (FRs) for polymer blends are difficult to predict their ability for reducing flammability since the FRs tend to exist as a third phase in the melt polymer. Although most of polymeric>materials including the FRs are made out of polymer blends, few research articles are studied in increasing the dispersion and miscibility of FRs in the blends using nanoparticles. Hence this comprehensive review focuses on research articles in which the fillers are FRs and nanoparticles in a polymer blend.