International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Science ISSN 2319-5665 (December 2012, issue 1 volume 6
Influence of retardant agent on flame spread through composite surface Ali I .Al-Mosawi 1,a, Salim J.Abbas2 , Salim h.Flayah3
1,2,3
Technical Institute of Babylon, Babylon ,Iraq
Abstract . flammability test on hybrid retardant agent have been performed up to (3000C) to enhanced the flame retardancy of polystyrene composites .A surface layer from zinc borate- Sb2O4 with (4mm) thickness was used and exposed to a direct flame generated from Oxyacetylene torch with exposure intervals [10,15, 20mm] and study the range of resistance of retardant material layer to the flames and protected the substrate . The best results was obtained with large exposed interval and large percentage from protective layer which is zinc borate with (30%) Sb2O4. Keywords: Hybrid retardant agent, ,flammability, composites . Introduction Polymers are commonly made from highly flammable hydrocarbons that burn quite readily upon ignition. Hence, making polymers resistant to burning is of great importance to their safe use in todays society. One way to make polymers flame retardant is by blending in additives. Flame retardants(FRS) are materials that inhibit or resist the spread of fire ,for example, many plastics are highly flammable and therefore their fire resistance is increased by adding flame retardants in order to reduce the risk of fire [1]. Room combustion tests comparing FR plastics with non-FR plastics conducted by the National Bureau of Standards (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) have shown that FR materials allow longer escape time, less heat release, less smoke and release of a lower concentration of toxic gases. These effects are due to a decrease in the amount of burning materials [2]. Flame retardants commonly divided into four major groups : Inorganic FRS, Organo phosphorus FRS, Nitrogencontaining FRS and Halogenated organic FRS. Flame retardancy can be achieved using any of three different approaches: (1) causing char formation in the pyrolysis zone, (2) adding material that decomposes to produce nonflammable gases or endothermically cools the pyrolysis zone, and (3) prohibiting the combustion process in the vapor phase [3]. Fig .1 shows the mode action for inorganic FRS.
Fig .1 Mode of action for inorganic FRS
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International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Science ISSN 2319-5665 (December 2012, issue 1 volume 6
Experimental Work 1- Materials Used . a. Flame retardant material: 1- Zinc borate (2ZnO.3B2O3.3.5H2O), which supply by Akrochem corporation. 2- Antimony tetroxide (Sb2O4) : produced by NL Industries with particle size (1) . b. Matrix material: polystyrene resin . c. Reinforcing fibers: Carbon fibers )0 - 45 (. 2- Preparation of Test samples. The samples of thermal erosion test are squared shape with dimensions of 100 100 mm2 and 10mm thick consisting two layers as shown in Fig .2 . a- Flame retardant Zinc Borate layer with 4 mm thick. b-Composite material with 6mm thick .
Flame retardant material layer
4mm 6mm
Composite material layer
Fig .2 Sample of thermal erosion test 3- Thermal Erosion Test . Flame generated from Oxyacetylene torch with temperature (3000C) was used in this test. The system was exposed to this flame under different exposure intervals (10,15, 20mm). A transformation card (AD) which called Thermal monitoring and recording system (see Fig .3) was used to observed and saved temperatures with time (in seconds) .
Thermal Monitoring and Recording System
Fig .3 Thermal monitoring and recording system Results and Discussion Fig .4 represents the thermal erosion test for composite material with retardant surface layer at exposure interval (10mm), the temperature of the opposite surface to the torch begins to increase with increasing exposition time to the flame . During this stage , zinc borate has a water of hydration in its chemical structure , therefore , it released this water to extinguish the fire through cooling , in addition , zinc borate will formed glassy coating layer which protecting the substrate (composite material) and the fire spread will decrease[4]. This process of flame retardancy will be 14
International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Science ISSN 2319-5665 (December 2012, issue 1 volume 6
increased by addition (10 %) from antimony tetroxide because its phase transformations happened in internal structure of this oxide which cause with zinc borate enhanced flame retardancy of composite materials , and this retardant action increased with increased antimony tetroxide content to (20 %, and 30 %)[5] . Fig .5 the thermal erosion test for composite material with retardant surface layer with exposure interval (15mm) . As a result, when the exposure interval to flame increased to (15mm), the time necessary to break down of fire retardant layer will increase and the combustion gaseous will reduced and there will be a less plastic to burn due to water of hydration and protected glassy coating layer comes from zinc borate, and this protection will improves with addition(10% ,20 %, and 30 %) from antimony tetroxide because the mode action of this oxide with glassy coating layer increasing flame retardancy [5] . The improvement in flame retardancy will increased with increased exposure interval to (20mm) as shown in Fig .6 . All that will rise the time of break down for zinc borate- antimony tetroxide layer and substrate composite material [9] . From figures , the better results obtained with large exposure interval and large percentage from protective layer which is antimony tetroxide (30%). All that will rise the time of break down for zinc borate- antimony tetroxide layer and substrate composite material [6] . From figures , the better results obtained with large exposure interval and large percentage from protective layer which is antimony tetroxide (30%).
180
Surface Temperature, C
160 140 Zinc borate Zinc borate+10% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+20% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+30% Sb2O3 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Time, sec
Fig .4 Exposure interval (10 mm)
180
Surface Temperature, C
160 140 Zinc borate Zinc borate+10% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+20% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+30% Sb2O3 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Time, sec
Fig .5 Exposure interval (15 mm) 15
International Journal of Innovative Research in Engineering & Science ISSN 2319-5665 (December 2012, issue 1 volume 6
200
Surface Temperature, C
180 160 Zinc borate Zinc borate+10% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+20% Sb2O3 Zinc borate+30% Sb2O3 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Time, sec
Fig .6 Exposure interval (20 mm)
Conclusions From this study we concluded that: 1- Improved flame retardancy of composite by using zinc borate. 2- Adding Antimony tetroxide to Zinc borate improved the layer Durability and structure. 3- The mixing ratio of 3:1 (zinc borate: antimony tetroxide) is the optimum mixing ratio which is obtaining the best result. References [1]Sravanthi Durganala Synthesis of non-halogenated flame retardants for polyurethane foams ,MS.C thesis , The School of Engineering, University of Dayton ,August, 2011 . [2]Cem Aykuterdog Du, Sevdiye Atakul, Devrimbalko Se and Semra U Lku, Development of Synergistic Heat Stabilizers for PVC from Zinc Borate-Zinc Phosphat, Chem. Eng. Comm., 196: 148160, 2009. [3]C. Formicola, A. De Fenzo, M. Zarrelli, A. Frache , M. Giordano, G . Camino, Synergistic effects of zinc borate and aluminium trihydroxide on flammability behaviour of aerospace epoxy system ,eXPRESS Polymer Letters, Vol.3, No.6 ,[Link] 376384 . [4]Mohammed Al-Maamori, Ali. Al-Mosawi, Abbass Hashim Flame retardancy enhancement of hybrid composite material by using inorganic retardants , Materials Sciences and Application ,Vol 2,No 8 , 2011 ,pp1134-1138 . [5]Sameer S. Rahatekar, Mauro Zammarano, Szabolcs Matko , Krzysztof K. Koziol ,Alan H. Windle, Marc Nyden, Takashi Kashiwagi, Jeffrey W. Gilman , Polymer Degradation and Stability , 2010, 95, 870879.
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