Conclusion

FRs are very diverse, and act at different stages of combustion or pyrolysis, i.e. during a highly ventilated or, on the contrary, under-ventilated fire. Flame retardants are available for virtually all common polymers on the market. They have to meet different types of fire reaction properties, such as resistance to ignition, self-extinguishing capacity, non-propagation of ignition, reduction of heat output and energy released during combustion, and reduction of smoke opacity and toxic effluents.

Their mechanisms are based on physical or chemical processes, or both, especially in the case of multi-component RF systems. Flame retardants can belong to a wide variety of compound families. Their choice is conditioned not only by their intrinsic performance in terms of polymer reaction to fire, but also by considerations relating to their impact on other properties...