- Author
-
Hastie, J. W.
|
McBee, C. L.
- Title
- Mechanistic Studies of Halogenated Flame Retardants: The Antimony-Halogen System.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC
- Report
-
Chapter 4,
- Book or Conf
- Southwest Research Institute. Halogenated Fire Suppressants. ACS Symposium Series 16. April 23-24, 1975,
American Chemical Society, Washington, DC,
San Antonio, TX,
Gann, R. G., Editors,
118-148 p.,
1975
- Keywords
-
halogen compounds
|
fire extinguishing agents
|
flame retardants
|
halogens
|
flame extinguishment
|
synergistic effects
- Abstract
- In addition to the prominent use of various halocarbons as flame extinguishing agents there exists another class of halogenated flame retardants which, at present, incorporates primarily the additional elements of Sb and P. Despite the inconclusive mechanistic understanding for halogen induced flame inhibition in general, there is reason to believe that the mechanistic action of halocarbons, e.g., CF₃Br, and halogenated Sb- or P-containing species, e.g., SbCl₃, SbBr₃ or POCl₃, has a common molecular basis. For both retardant categories, the primary function of the non-chloride or bromide moiety appears to be its ability to serve as a convenient carrier for the flame inhibiting chloride or bromide component to the flame front. However, some synergistic effects are observed. For instance, the reduction in burning velocity is far greater for species such as SbCl₃ than for the equivalent amount of Cl. Similarly, for CF₃Br the observed degree of flame inhibition exceeds that expected for the equivalent amount of Br. In order to understand such synergistic systems it is necessary to separate the individual mechanistic effects for each active component. The present study attempts to define the flame inhibiting mechanism for the synergistic interaction of antimony and halogens, with particular emphasis on systems involving [Sb₂O₃] and chlorinated hydrocarbons (square brackets denote solid state compounds).