Phosphate Ester Flame Retardants: A Potential Replacement for Halogens with Different Behaviors

Phosphate ester flame retardants are one of the many types of flame retardants and are generally considered the first candidate to replace halogens.

Halogen is a very effective flame retardant, but there are aspects to avoid using it due to environmental considerations.

Customers who consider replacing halogens are often surprised to find that phosphorus flame retardants behave quite differently.

As an example, in PC/ABS, phosphorus fire retardants give plasticity to the base material, so they do not mix well unless the temperature and other conditions in the production line are adjusted.

Halogens are highly flame retardant, mainly due to a mechanism called radical trapping, which directly stops the oxidation reaction of combustion itself. Simply, it’s powerful.

On the other hand, Phosphorus flame retardants mainly block combustion and objects by forming a carbonized layer.

If you are using phosphorus flame retardants for the first time, please feel free to contact us for technical support.