AMINO Offers a Wide Range of Flame Retardant Additives for Polyurethane Foam Applications Across Various Market Segments
AMINO provides a comprehensive range of flame retardant additives, enabling the use of polyurethane foams in various applications across a multitude of market segments.
Polyurethane (PU) foams cover a broad spectrum of materials with diverse properties, including flexible or rigid foams, open-cell structures, low or high densities, among other characteristics. All these foams incorporate flame retardants in their compositions.
These materials are widely used in furniture parts, mattresses, and sectors such as automotive, aerospace, refrigeration, construction, beauty, toys, and many others.
Why Are Flame Retardants Necessary in Foams?
From a heat response perspective, PU foams exhibit low thermal inertia, meaning that the heat applied does not dissipate deeply but remains on the surface layer. This leads the surface to quickly reach high temperatures, making PU foams highly flammable.
Paradoxically, although PU foams ignite easily, extinguishing small flames is relatively simple. This is also related to their low thermal inertia, as heat does not penetrate deeply into the foam, limiting the decomposition and release of flammable gases to a shallow surface layer.
Burning foam exhibits significant turbulence and flame fluctuation, which indicate combustion instability. Small flames can often be extinguished by minor changes in fuel supply or heat reduction through incomplete combustion.
The flame retardants added to PU foams are specifically designed to extinguish these small fires and employ various flame-extinguishing mechanisms.
Understanding How Flame Retardants Work:
“If there is no ignition, there is no fire.” This is the best strategy to mitigate the fire risk in PU foams. However, if the ignition source is substantial and surpasses the first line of defense, flame retardants provide a second line of defense. They slow the heat release rate and fire growth, thereby limiting fire spread.
This strategy is particularly essential for rigid PU used as thermal insulation material. For example, when insulation foams are part of external wall systems (facades) or roofing systems, fire protection becomes crucial. Proper use of flame retardants in foam reduces the likelihood of rapid fire spread in buildings and structures.
Flame retardant additives in polymers become indispensable in specific applications where material flammability poses fire risks. These substances enable PU foams to be used in various applications across the automotive, aerospace, and construction sectors.
See also: AMINO’s polyol and isocyanate system for the production of viscoelastic foam in cylinders.
Explore Flame Retardant Additives
Flame retardant additives for PU foam are divided into two categories: halogenated and non-halogenated. Halogenated flame retardants are chemical substances containing highly reactive elements like chlorine and bromine.
These elements are highly efficient in flame retardancy but cause significant environmental and human health concerns when released. As a result, they have been banned in many countries.
Non-halogenated flame retardants operate differently. Typically, these are phosphorus-based additives that undergo dehydration during combustion, forming a carbon layer on the material’s surface to inhibit further burning.
The table below outlines the structure and molecular weight of some traditional flame retardants used or currently in use for PU foam applications:
Table I – Types of Flame Retardants Traditionally Used in Polyurethane Applications
In this context, AMINO Química has developed a complete range of both halogenated and non-halogenated flame retardants.
- Halogenated: AMIFLAME RFP 1201 (TCPP) and AMIFLAME AMF 1205 (TDCP).
- Non-halogenated: AMIFLAME NHF 1210, ideal for flexible PU foams, exhibiting low burn rates, reduced volatility, excellent hydrolytic stability, low fogging, and superior processing characteristics.
Foams containing these additives exhibit excellent compression set properties and maintain foam hardness (IFD), delivering exceptional performance in various applications.
Learn More
Watch our video on how flame retardants work and discover more about AMINO Química products by clicking [here]!
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