Analysis of three kinds of flame retardants

1) Organic halogen flame retardant

Organic halogenated flame retardants refer to organic flame retardants with halogen as the main flame retardant components. Due to their high flame retardant efficiency, low consumption and small impact on the properties of materials, they have been widely used in the flame retardant market since the 1960s.

Brominated flame retardants are the representative of organic halogenated flame retardants. Among all the sales of organic halogenated flame retardants, the sales volume of brominated flame retardants has been ranked first. In particular, about 70% of the flame retardants used in electronic and electrical products are brominated flame retardants. The representative products of brominated flame retardants are tetrabromobisphenol A and decabromodiphenylethane, which account for about 50% of the total production of brominated flame retardants.

However, the disadvantages of brominated flame retardants in environmental protection and safety are also increasingly apparent. Because most of the flame retardant mechanisms of brominated flame retardants are gas phase flame retardants, a lot of smoke, corrosive gases and toxic gases will be produced when they are used as flame retardants, Some brominated flame retardants will release hydrogen halide gas and dioxins (polybrominated dibenzo-dioxins and polybrominated dibenzofuran) which are harmful to human body and environment during the combustion process. Most of the brominated flame retardants are not easy to decompose and easily accumulate in the environment, so they are easy to cause long-term harm to the environment and biology.

In view of this situation, Europe, America, Japan and other countries and regions have promulgated a series of laws and regulations represented by ROHS directive in recent years, gradually restricting and banning brominated flame retardants. In addition, due to the scarcity and monopoly of global bromine resources, the price of bromine rises rapidly, which leads to the loss of cost advantage of bromine flame retardants. In this context, the process of non bromination in flame retardant industry is accelerating day by day. Flame retardant manufacturers are looking for other flame retardants that meet the requirements of safety and environmental protection to replace the existing brominated flame retardants.

2) Organophosphorus flame retardant

Organophosphorus flame retardants are important flame retardants with many varieties and wide applications. They are characterized by high flame retardant efficiency, low toxicity, low smoke, low corrosivity, good compatibility with materials, and dual functions of flame retardant and plasticizing.

In developed countries and regions such as Europe, America and Japan, organophosphorus flame retardants are gradually replacing organohalogen flame retardants and become one of the mainstream products in the market. In China, the application of organophosphorus flame retardants is still in the initial stage, and the market prospect is broad.

3) Inorganic flame retardant

Inorganic flame retardants mainly include aluminum hydroxide, magnesium hydroxide, antimony trioxide, zinc borate, ammonium polyphosphate and inorganic phosphate. The price of inorganic flame retardant is low, but it needs to be added in a large number of materials to achieve flame retardant effect, so it is easy to affect the original performance of materials. This kind of products and materials have poor compatibility and poor dispersibility in the materials, so the mechanical properties of the manufactured materials are damaged greatly, resulting in such products can not be used in the occasions with high requirements on the mechanical properties of materials.

Among them, antimony trioxide in inorganic flame retardant usually needs to be used together with organic halogen flame retardant, so part of the demand is easy to be constrained by environmental protection, and antimony is relatively scarce, so the price of this kind of products is high.

Novista Group supplies APP, MCA, aluminium hydroxide,magnesium hydroxide to global market.