- Author
- Gilman, J. W. | Ritchie, S. J. | Kashiwagi, T. | Lomakin, S. M.
- Title
- Fire Retardant Additives for Polymeric Materials. Part 1. Char Formation From Silica Gel-Potassium Carbonate.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
- Journal
- Fire and Materials, Vol. 21, No. 1, 23-32, 1997
- Report
- NISTIR 6030, June 1997,
- Book or Conf
- U.S./Japan Government Cooperative Program on Natural Resources (UJNR). Fire Research and Safety. 13th Joint Panel Meeting. Volume 2. March 13-20, 1996, Gaithersburg, MD, Beall, K. A., Editors, 261-270 p., 1997
- Keywords
- fire safety | fire research | fire retardants | additives | char formation | polymers | silica gel | cone calorimeters | thermoplastics | oxygen index | gasification
- Abstract
- Silica gel combined with potassium carbonate is an effective fire retardant for a wide vareity of common polymers (at only 10 wt. % total additive) such as polypropylene, nylon, polymethyl methacrylate, poly(vinyl alcohol), cellulose, and to a lesser extent polystyrene and styrene-acrylonitrile. The peak heat release rate is reduced by up to 68% without significantly increasing the smoke or carbon monoxide levels during the combustion.