Flame retardant and mechanical properties of a copolymer PP/PE containing brominated compounds/antimony trioxide blends and magnesium hydroxide or talc

Abstract

The incorporation of two brominated compounds/antimony trioxide blends into a PP-PE copolymer were studied. Both brominated trimethylphenyl indane (FR 1808) and poly(pentabromobenzyl acrylate) (FR 1025) confer good flame retardancy at 40% loading. A comparison was made with the incorporation of magnesium hydroxide at higher loadings (up to 64%) in the same copolymer. The mineral filler improves both fire resistance and stiffness of the copolymer, nevertheless the high loading causes a dramatic decrease in impact resistance. Moreover, the necessary surface treatment of the filler significantly lowers the maximal tensile strength. In order to maximize both fire resistance and mechanical properties, we combined each brominated flame-retardant system (20% in weight) with magnesium hydroxide or talc (20% in weight). Talc is used as reference. These composites show interesting fire-retardant properties in comparison with the copolymers containing only 40% of the brominated flame-retardant systems. In addition, the mechanical properties are on the whole improved. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.