Ceren Yargici: Flame retardants are necessary to prevent users from fire hazards related to plastic materials in applications such as transport, electrical equipment. They are important for product safety but there are restrictions with environmental regulations such as REACH, ROHS etc. especially for halogenated FR’s and restrictions are growing. Besides restrictions there are also discussions on local tax systems for flame retardants usage in electrical equipment (e.g. Sweden Chemical Taxes). These are pushing industry to move to PIN FR solutions.
Bio-sourced materials pose challenges of long-term reliability in product life, processing properties, shelf life, surface and mechanical properties. Also, prices are often higher than synthetic polymers, and also subject to fluctuations and geographical variations depending on secondary material availability. Large scale industrial production is needed. Due to their environmental and sustainability objectives and strategies, user industries, such as automobile and white goods manufacturers, demand such bio-sourced materials. R&D studies aim to decrease market prices. PIN FR solutions are continuing to be developed for performance engineering plastics and also for bio-polymers.