Abstract:
With recent researches it has been identified intumesent flame retardants (IFR) are effective flame retardants that operates by reducing the amount of combustible gases released from a decomposing polymer by promoting dense char formation. The present work is to further develop intumesent ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with polypropylene (PP) and other engineering plastics such as acrylonitrilebutadiene- styrene (ABS) and polylactide (PLA). Talc was incorporated to improve mechanical properties and dimensional stability. PP based compatibiliser has used as a good dispersion material. The test samples were prepared using twin screw extrusion and injection moulding processes. Thermal, mechanical and physical analyses were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the IFR system on PP, ABS and PLA. It was found the highest loading of 35% was required with ABS for Underwriters Laboratory vertical burning test [UL-94 V-0] rating. PP has given the lowest loading of 20% for similar rating while PLA has shown high level of dripping without burning at 25% level. In general the mechanical properties deteriorated with the increase of IFR but addition of fillers and compatibilisers tends to increase the tensile and flexural strength up to 90%. Finally, expected future work was formulated with an analytical approach towards commercialisation of the experimental findings.
