Published January 1975
The rapidly growing field of flame retardant chemicals used by the plastics industry comprises products of two general types. The additive type of retardant is blended or dissolved in the polymer in a physical mixture; the reactive retardants, on the other hand, enter the polymer chain chemically during polymerization.
This report deals only with the flame retardant additives. It is limited to types of organic materials which are among those consumed in the largest volume. These are:
- Chlorinated paraffins
- Hexachlorocyclopentadiene (HEX) derivatives
- Triaryl phosphate esters
- Alkyl diary1 phosphate esters
- Halogenated trialkyl phosphate esters.
Although there is a brief summary of the mechanisms and testing of flame retardancy, the principal emphasis in the report is on the processes and economics involved in manufacturing the retardants themselves. There is no attempt to evaluate the costs of plastics formulations incorporating the retardants.
