Synergy effects and the use of nanoparticles

When the combination of flame retardants in the same material produces simple cumulative effects, the overall effect on a reaction-to-fire property (e.g.: total energy released in combustion) or reaction-to-fire test performance (e.g.: limiting oxygen index) is simply proportional to the linear contribution of each of the effects taken separately. In other cases, the observed overall effect of the flame-retardant system may be greater than the sum of the effects of each component taken separately: this is known as a synergy effect. Thus, if the property P achieved by a mixture of components A and B is more advantageous than that given by the corresponding point on the segment P _A -P _...