Flame retardants and heat release: review of traditional studies on products and on groups of polymers

Abstract

SummaryThis is part of a project considering whether flame retardants affect polymer heat release, a critical issue to assess whether adding flame retardants decreases fire hazard. The work investigated the following. (1) Fire properties affecting fire hazard, confirming that heat release rate is the key fire property most strongly influencing fire hazard. (2) Ways to assess heat release and whether full‐scale fire heat release rate can be predicted from small‐scale test results, confirming that cone calorimeter and Ohio State University data are adequate to predict full‐scale heat release. (3) Analysis of key 1988 NBS/NIST study comparing the fire hazard of flame retarded products versus non‐flame retarded products for the same application. This confirmed that the study demonstrated that flame retardants lower fire hazard and that the levels of additives in the flame retarded products used were not excessive. (4) Review of studies investigating effects of flame retardants on various polymeric systems. The overall conclusion is that flame retardants does indeed improve fire safety (when used appropriately) primarily because they decrease heat release. Part 2 of the project (separately) considers the key polymers that need to be potentially flame retarded and reviews recent studies on effects of flame retardants on heat released by such polymers. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.