This article mainly deals with smoke-suppression properties and synergistic flame-retardant effects of iron oxide brown ((Fe₂O₃ + FeO)·nH₂O) on intumescent flame-retardant epoxy resins (IFREP) using ammonium polyphosphate and pentaerythritol as intumescent flame retardants. The smoke-suppression properties and flame retardancy of iron oxide brown on IFREP compositions were investigated by the cone calorimeter test (CCT), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis-infrared spectrometry. Remarkably, CCT data revealed that the incorporation of iron oxide brown into IFREP compositions can significantly reduce heat release rate, total heat release, smoke production rate, and total smoke release, and so on. On the other hand, the SEM results showed that iron oxide brown can greatly improve the structure of char residue. The thermogravimetric data indicated that iron oxide brown had different effects on the process of thermal degradation of the IFREP compositions. The volatilized products formed on thermal degradation of IFREP compositions indicated that the volatilized products were H₂O, CO₂, CO, carboxylic acid, and aliphatic hydrocarbons according to the temperature of onset formation. Here, iron oxide brown is considered to be an effective smoke-suppression agent and a good synergism with IFR in flame-retardant epoxy resins, which can greatly enhance the char residue.

In this work, an organic inorganic hybrid intumescent flame retardant (functionalized expandable graphite, FEG) was synthesized and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR). The flame retardant effects of FEG in silicone rubber (SR) composites were investigated by cone calorimeter test (CCT), and the thermal stability of SR composites was studied using TGA. The CCT results showed that FEG can effectively reduce the flammable properties including peak heat release rate (PHRR), total heat release (THR), smoke production rate (SPR), total smoke release (TSR), and smoke factor (SF). An improvement of thermal stability of SR/FEG was also observed. Compared with EG, FEG can further reduce THR, SPR, and TSR of SR/FEG composites in combustion process. Moreover, there is a more obvious intumescent char layer formed from the sample with FEG than the sample with EG at the same loading in SR composites. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The flammability characterization and synergistic flame-retardant effect of Fe-montmorillonite (Fe-OMT) in the ethylene-vinyl acetate/aluminum hydroxide (EVA/ATH) compounds were studied using limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 test, cone calorimeter, microscale combustion calorimetry (MCC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that addition of Fe-OMT increases the LOI value and improves the UL 94 rating. Cone calorimeter data indicate that the addition of Fe-OMT greatly reduced the heat release rate and carbon monoxide production rate. Furthermore a compact char residue formed on the surface of the sample with a suitable of Fe-OMT during the combustion. The MCC results indicate that addition of Fe-OMT reduced the heat release rate and catalyzed the decomposition of EVA. The TGA data showed further evidence that Fe-OMT can catalyze carbonization reactions. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers

The flammability and synergistic flame-retardant effects of fumed silica (SiO₂) in ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)/aluminum hydroxide (ATH) blends were studied with limiting oxygen index measurements, UL 94 testing, cone calorimeter testing (CONE), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results show that the addition of a given amount of fumed SiO₂ can apparently improve UL 94 rating. The CONE data indicated that the addition of fumed SiO₂ greatly reduced the heat release rate. The TGA data showed that this synergistic flame-retardant mechanism of fumed SiO₂ in the EVA/ATH materials was mainly due to the physical process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011

The synergistic effects of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) with layered double hydroxides (LDH) in ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer/LDH (EVA/LDH) composites have been studied using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 tests, and cone calorimeter test (CCT). The results from the UL-94 test show that the TiO₂ can also act as flame retardant synergistic agents in the EVA/LDH composites. The CCT data indicated that the addition of TiO₂ in EVA/LDH system can greatly reduce the heat release rate and the production rate of carbon monoxide. The TGA data show that the TiO₂ as excellent flameretardant synergist of LDH can increase the thermal stability of the flame retardant composites at high temperature, indicating the effect of condensed phase mechanism is the main reason of the improvement of flame retardancy. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers

The flammability characterization and synergistic flame retardant effect of cerium oxide (CeO₂) in the ethylene-vinyl acetate/aluminum hydroxide blends were studied using limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 test, and cone calorimeter test (CCT). The results showed that the addition of a given amount of CeO₂ apparently increased the LOI value and UL-94 rating. The data obtained from the CCT indicated that the addition of CeO₂ greatly decreased the heat release rate and prolonged the combustion time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010

The flammability of polypropylene (PP) composites containing intumescent flame-retardant additives, i.e., melamine pyrophosphate (MPP) and 1-oxo-4-hydroxymethyl-2,6,7-trioxa-1-phosphabicyclo[2.2.2]octane (PEPA) was characterized by limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL 94 test, and cone calorimeter. In addition, the thermal degradation of the composites was studied using thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and real-time Fourier transform infrared (RTFTIR). It has been found that the PP composite only containing MPP (or PEPA) does not show good flame retardancy even at 30% additive level. Compared with the PP/MPP binary composite, the LOI values of the PP/MPP/PEPA ternary composites at the same additive loading are all increased, and UL 94 rating of the ternary composite (PP3) studied is raised to V-0 rating from no rating (PP/MPP). The cone calorimeter results show that the heat release rate of some ternary composites decreases in comparison with the binary composite. It is noted from the TG data that initial decomposition temperatures of ternary composites are lower than that of the binary composites. The RTFTIR study indicates that the PP/MPP/PEPA composites have higher thermal oxidative stability than the pure PP. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers