NEWS
Zinc borate and magnesium hydroxide reduce smoke
Synergistic action of zinc borate or magnesium hydroxide with phosphorus were demonstrated in novel PIN FR coatings applied to 4mm plywood board (up to 75x75 cm, tunnel, cabinet tests, cone calorimeter and smoke density tests). A cyclic phosphate ester was reacted with zinc borate or with magnesium hydroxide, then incorporated into an amino resin, then brush applied to the plywood, with several applications to result in a 0.4 mm coating. Different levels of minerals were tested (0 – 7% by mass).
READ MORESTPP and pomegranate FR for cotton
In laboratory tests, 3% STPP ‘(sodium tri poly phosphate, the mineral phosphate salt widely used last century in detergents) and pomegranate rind extract were tested as a “green” PIN flame retardant treatment for cotton (150 g/mm2 woven fabric). The extract was obtained by high temperature boiling in water of chopped waste pomegranate rinds.
READ MOREMineral functionalised LDHs as PIN FRs for epoxy
Functionalised layered double hydroxide (LDH) were synthesised in a one-step reaction by mixing a solution of organic compounds (SDBS sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate, sCD hydroxypropyl-sulfobutyl-beta-cyclodextrin and taurine) with solutions of magnesium nitrate Mg(NO3)2 and aluminium nitrate Al(NO3)3 and adjusting pH, then filtering and drying the resulting slurry.
READ MORERenewable cellulose and clay for FR coating
Researchers have tested layer-by-layer deposition (LbL) coating on PET film and on polyurethane foam (not specified), alternating cellulose nano-fibrils and clay. The cellulose nano-fibrils were extracted from pulp fibres, then cationised. These fibrils are expected to show good mechanical properties because of crystallinity.
READ MOREStruvite for PIN flame retardancy of wood
Struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) is today recovered from municipal wastewater, food industry waste streams and other wastes. It enables phosphorus recycling as a fertiliser, but has also been tested as a PIN flame retardant for cotton and wood by Yetilmezsoy et al. 2018 (simply placing powdered struvite in or on the material).
READ MORE4th Fire-Retardant Plastics Conference
Organised by AIMPLAS and pinfa in Valencia, Spain, 4th April, this workshop will bring together the flame retardant industry, compounders and researchers to look at perspectives for flame retardant plastics. Themes will include bio-based flame retardants, recycling of PIN FR plastics (with recycling professionals and Plastics Europe) and future perspectives including e-mobility, 3D-printing and new fibres.
READ MOREWorkshop on design for fire safety in green electronics
San José, California, 30th April – 1st May 2019. Day 1 will provide an overview of flame retardants, fire testing and formulation for electrical and electronic applications, with presentations by Alex Morgan (UDRI), testing and standards organisations and compounders.
READ MORESPE Non Halogen session at ANTEC 2019
Pinfa NA is Co-sponsoring a session at the SPE (Society of Plastics Engineers) Non Halogen Special Interest Group session on 20th March, 2019 at ANTEC 2019 in Detroit, Michigan.
READ MOREFSEU webinar on fire safety data
Fire Safe Europe (FSEU) webinar 15th March: "Learning from other EU initiatives which have been collecting data with the aim to increase safety". The objective is discussion between organisations which collect and manage data relevant to improving fire safety, on best practice, data sharing and on developing European standards on fire safety data collection and analysis.
READ MORECall for papers: Innovative flame Retardants
The Journal Molecules – Materials Chemistry has published a call for papers for a special issue on “Innovative Flame Retardants”. Papers should address synthesis, properties and testing of bio-based flame retardants, including life cycle analysis.
READ MOREPublic consultation on EU Ecolabel
The European Commission opened a public consultation on future orientations for the EU Ecolabel (Flower). The questions were general, including which types of product should be prioritised for the Eco...
READ MOREUK consultation on building fire safety regulations
he UK Government has launched a public consultation, open to 1st March 2019, on “Document B” (1) of the building regulations. This consultation is a “call for evidence” to inform the review of UK building fire safety, as part of a wider review of fire safety, concerning high rise buildings (following the Hackitt report, see pinfa Newsletter n°92, and the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry) but also “any issues affecting fire safety in all types of building”. The consultation does not however concern specific buildings such as hospitals and schools.
READ MOREEU FIEP (Fire Information Exchange Platform)
On February 27th 2019, the EU FIEP held its 2nd plenary meeting, bringing together most of the member states representatives, the European Commission, firefighters and stakeholders involved in the 5 project teams identified. The FIEP was launched two years ago, in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower disaster, to pool knowledge and statistics on fire. Project teams (see pinfa Newsletter n°95) reported on progress and three member states (Sweden, Estonia, Portugal) presented national actions on fire safety.
READ MOREA car seat meets the chemical of her dreams
Environmental NGO ChemSec has produced an 2 minute video “When a car seat meets the chemical of her dreams”, promoting its online platform MarketPlace (see pinfa Newsletter n°s 97 and 95) for safer alternative chemicals. Entertaining and funny: enjoy!.
READ MORECompounding World innovations in PIN FRs
The annual feature article in Compounding World on flame retardants illustrates the industry tendency for new developments, featuring only PIN FR solutions, all non-halogenated. The move away from antimony, because of regulatory concerns, is also emphasised. pinfa is cited as identifying new requirements for fire safety in electric vehicles, with demand for non-halogenated FRs resulting from declaration systems such as IMDS and GADS, and in construction and E&E, with demand for low smoke PIN solutions.
READ MOREFire Standards Coalition launched
Some 30 different organisations worldwide have jointly launched the “International Fire Safety Standards Coalition” (IFSS Coalition). Member organisations include national and international professional bodies and standard setting organisations, fire protection associations, industry associations and the United Nations (UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management).
READ MOREEU launches plastics recycling platform
The European Commission has launched the “Circular Plastics Alliance”, to bring together industry, retailers and stakeholders from primary materials production, OEMs, packaging, waste collection, recycling and covering sectors such as consumer products, construction, automotive.
READ MOREZinc oxide as flame retardant for polypropylene
Zinc oxide (ZnO) has been demonstrated as a PIN flame retardant in a range of materials, including wood, natural fibres and PVA (poly vinyl alcohol) and nano-sized particles of the mineral have shown better dispersion. In this research paper, daisy-shaped zinc oxide nano-wires, diameter 80-120 nm and length 1.5-3 µm, were tested at loadings of 0 – 40 % in polypropylene.
READ MOREStudies detect phosphorus PIN FRs
Three studies (two USA, one Canada) published in scientific journals have led to media coverage of presence of phosphorus-based flame retardants in different products. One study reports analysis of textiles from 18 children’s car seats (manufactured in the USA, China and Canada) in which two cyclic phosphonates (i), other phosphorus FRs (TDTBPP and RDP (ii)) and the brominated FR DBDPE (iii) were detected at levels indicating deliberate use (PMMMPs 0 – 23 000 µg/g) as well as other brominated FRs at low levels suggesting contamination e.g. from recycled materials.
READ MOREKingfisher to exclude halogenated FRs
The international home improvement retailer Kingfisher (which includes B&Q, Brico Dépôt and Screwfix) has announced that it will exclude all halogenated flame retardants from all of its own-brand products by 2025, with the objective of extending this to all of its product suppliers.
READ MORESmoke emission / heat release ratio with / without FRs
A detailed scientific paper is published by R. Sonnier, H. Vahabi and C. Chivas-Joly, comparing smoke emission and heat release rate for 22 neat polymers (commercially available). and 9 polymer-FR combinations The FR-polymers tested were (1) EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer) with 0 - 60% ATH (aluminium trihydroxide) or MDH (magnesium hydroxide), and (2) polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP) with zero or 10% of the phosphorus PIN flame retardant DOPO or the brominated flame retardant TBBPA.
READ MOREpinfa promotes PIN FR recycling at IERC
With 450 participants from all over the world, IERC (International Electronics Recycling Conference) is one of the most influential global meetings of electronics waste (WEEE) recyclers. Hosted in Salzburg, the 18th IERC (January 2019) was well attended with a strong European industry presence. The conference included several presentations addressing issues with recycling of polymers containing halogenated flame retardants.
READ MORETrends in science concerning consumer chemicals
An analysis by two US researchers of scientific publications concerning consumer chemicals identified some 1 900 published papers ever and up to the end of 2017, screened down to 342 papers referring to specific chemicals, endpoints or applications. Numbers of publications increased considerably since 2006, increasing to 2014, and then maybe declining somewhat.
READ MOREAEI offers new cable performance for fire safety
The new Total Fire Solutions cable and related products range from AIE Cables offer up to 120 minutes fire resistance for building ventilation, smoke exhaust and escape control systems, alarms and fire communications and emergency lighting and power. The full range of cables and fittings, including Mineral Insulated Cable (MIC), Firetec Enhanced and Firetec Power, are low-smoke, zero-halogen to BS EN 50267 (IEC 60754) and BS EN 50268 (IEC 61034), using PIN flame retardants.
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