MATERIALS | FLAME RETARDANTS
Above: Fire continues to be a concern in portable electronic devices
the additives also function as flow enhancers so that compounds can be processed at lower temperatures than normal, or in a more efficient manner. Xu says he is collaborating with a manufacturing
partner in China to manufacture ionic liquids in Shangrao, Jiangxi province. “We have established the largest ionic liquids manufacturing capacity in the world, with a capacity of 6,000 tonnes/yr,” he says. Inovia is currently raising funds to establish a masterbatch factory and speed up global product registration. The company has already registered its products in the US and China and registration is underway in Europe, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The company has a supplier relationship with an undisclosed German chemical company, which Xu says will see Inovia’s TPU and PA retardants in use once Europe REACH registration is completed. He expects that by the end of the year. “An American company has already used tonnes
of our PMMA retardant. They obtained a project contract from Disney, which is the first commercial contract using transparent retarding PMMA in the world. All the large polycarbonate companies are using our PC retardant now, in the film and thin product development,” he says.
PN innovations
Also pioneering development of novel PN (phospho- rus nitrogen) flame retardants is FRX Polymers. It produces three lines of phosphonate-based oligomer and copolymer HFFRs, branded Nofia, intended for thermoplastic polyesters (including polycarbonate). CEO Marc Lebel claims that in terms of performance, Nofia is one of the best flame retardants commer- cially available for use in PET. Lebel highlights new applications for the company’s Nofia products in recycling. He says FRX is involved in several big developments making durable products out of recycled plastics, citing flame retardant yarns and foams based on recycled
20 COMPOUNDING WORLD | December 2021
PET as examples. “We have now got into injection moulding grades based on recycled PET and also recycled polycarbonate. One big stream is PET water bottles.” He says that many companies want to be seen to be moving to more sustainable materials and this is driving a move away from halogenated flame retardants. He claims that the polymeric nature of its products puts them among the most sustainable of halogen-free FRs. “It follows that Nofia is at the centre of many of these ‘recycled-plastics-into-hard- goods’ projects,” Lebel says. “In addition, the Nofia product line has achieved benchmark 3 in the important Green Screen classification system, which is further proof of our sustainability credentials.” Recent projects that the company has been involved in include electronic device covers. FRX has been working with major brands producing well- known products in glass reinforced polycarbonate, glass reinforced PET, and also non filled PET. Lebel also highlights how the rise of EVs is driving demand for flame retardant plastics. “The battery is always upper operating whether it is charging or discharging, and since it sits directly under the passenger compartment, the require- ment for flame resistance is important,” he says. This flame retardant performance is becoming more critical with the trend towards EV systems running on higher voltages. He says one FRX customer producing parts for EVs has introduced a product with a CTI of 1,000V. Another development FRX is working on is
flame retardants in PC/PBT and PC/PET blends. PBT or PET is used to improve chemical resistance but some of its effect is lost when compounds incorporate traditional flame retardants. FRX says it has a couple of commercial programmes using Nofia to maintain or even slightly improve chemical resistance in such blends. The company says Nofia not only enhances chemical resistance but can also improve flow and heat distortion temperature (HDT) while delivering a UL94 V-0 rating down to 0.8mm. Compounds containing Nofia can have an HDT as much as 30°C higher than compounds containing other HFFRs, FRX claims. “We believe this is a trend that will continue,”
says Lebel. “It is more important in the age of COVID, with the increasing use of aggressive chemicals to clean medical devices which may have covers in PC/PBT blends.” Among compounders that have recently turned
to FRX for use in blends and alloys, Lebel cites Polymer Compounders in the UK, which is now producing PC-based alloys containing Nofia; while in the US, speciality compounder Polyvisions
www.compoundingworld.com
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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