The examination of bromine‐containing fire retardants in unsaturated polyester resins by means of pyrolysis residue analysis

Abstract

Abstract A method has been developed for following the bromine and weight losses of fire retarded UPE as a function of temperature. The results obtained by this method indicate that those bromine–containing fire retardants which exhibit a linear LOI–bromine concentration relation, the bromine concentration in the pyrolytically produced fuel remains more or less constant, while for those materials which deviate positively from the linear relation (that is they are more efficient), the bromine concentration in the fuel tends to peak at certain temperatures. When this effect is combined with variation in composition of the pyrolytic fuel, a situation can arise where a high bromine concentration coincides with a fuel particularly sensitive to flame quenching by bromine. Such a combined effect may be the reason why some brominated fire retardants are far more effective than others.