Combustion and fire retardance in polymeric materials

Abstract
The use of organic polymeric materials is limited in many applications because of fire hazard. Fire retardant systems have been found which reduce this hazard below acceptable levels. The development of more efficient systems is constantly pursued to meet the demand for ever safer materials. This involves the difficult problems of the testing methods and of the mechanistic approach which should supply information for progressing in this task. Examples of mechanistic studies on halogen based or intumescent fire retardant are illustrated.