Correct View on Halogenation-Free Plastic Flame Retardants from the Perspective of Development
- time:
- 2019-05-13
Plastic flame retardant is one of the fastest growing varieties of material additives in recent years. The purpose of plastics flame retardant is to make non-flame retardant materials have flame retardant properties, which are not easy to burn or self-extinguish under certain conditions. With the continuous improvement of plastic flame retardant technology, the variety of plastic flame retardant is also increasing, and its performance has also been greatly improved. Plastic flame retardants can be divided into halogen-based plastic flame retardants and halogen-free plastic flame retardants according to whether they contain halogen elements or not. Halogen-free plastic flame retardants and halogen-based plastic flame retardants have different properties, advantages and disadvantages and application fields, so they should not be one-sided. Different plastic flame retardants should be balanced and coordinated development, play their respective important role in fire safety, and we should also use the development perspective to correctly see the halogenation of plastic flame retardants.
According to whether there are halogen group elements (mainly bromine and chlorine), plastic flame retardants can be divided into halogen series plastic flame retardants and halogen-free plastic flame retardants. Among them, halogen-based plastic flame retardants (mainly bromine-based plastic flame retardants) have been developed earlier, mature technology and nearly 100 kinds of products. Common products are decabromodiphenyl ether, decabromodiphenyl ethane, tetrabromobisphenol A, hexabromocyclododecane, etc. Halogen-free plastic flame retardants start later, and common products include phosphate, red phosphorus and other phosphorus-based plastic flame retardants, which are well-known to the public. Nitrogen-containing plastic flame retardants such as cyanamide and inorganic mineral plastic flame retardants such as aluminium hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide. At present, halogen-based plastic flame retardants are the main flame retardants used in modified plastics in China, and most electronic and electrical products contain halogen-based plastic flame retardants. Therefore, halogen-based plastics flame retardants play an important role in the Chinese market, and show a sustained and stable growth trend.
In the 21st century, halogenation-free has become one of the problems that the electronic and electrical industry must face directly.
To fully understand the halogenation-free problem, we must first understand the history of halogenated elements. "Halogen" is Greek, meaning "something that produces salt". Halogen or halogen group elements are the general name of five chemical elements: bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine and tinum. Bromides are mainly used in pesticides, fumigants and other products. They are also the main components of many drugs, such as antihistamines and analgesics. Of course, the most important use of bromide so far is to make flame retardants for brominated plastics.
In 2003, the European Union issued the RoHS Directive on Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS Directive), which limits the use of harmful substances such as polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE). Since then, major domestic universities, scientific research institutions, industry organizations and regulatory authorities will pay more attention to halogenation-free. Halogen-free plastics flame retardants ushered in a development climax, and the number of patent applications and related literature peaked in 2007. At the same time, some international non-governmental organizations, such as Greenpeace, also take this opportunity to grasp the environmental hazards of individual halogen-based plastic flame retardants, to dramatize the hazards of halogen-based plastic flame retardants, and even to deny all halogen-based plastic flame retardants. These organizations advocate halogen-free media propaganda, but lack scientific facts and evidence, which bring a lot of pressure to the regulatory authorities and the entire industrial chain, and form a wrong orientation. Considering the marketing strategy, some enterprises joined the halogen-free promotion camp, making "halogen-free" a marketing concept that has nothing to do with high-tech, green and environmental protection.
We believe that this blind promotion of halogenation-free plastic flame retardants is extremely irresponsible. From a scientific point of view, whether any chemical including plastic flame retardant is green or not depends on its specific chemical structure, but not on whether it contains some element. Halogen-based plastics flame retardants, including bromine and chlorine series, are nearly 100 products. Although very few products with different structures do harm to human body and environment, most of them are green and environmentally friendly. Similarly, halogen-free plastic flame retardants have many products with different structures, some of which have been proved to be toxic or highly toxic to the aquatic environment, but most of them are non-toxic and harmless products. Therefore, it is not scientifically based to deny a large class of products because of the environmental protection problems of individual products.
Halogen-free plastic flame retardants and halogen-based plastic flame retardants have different properties, advantages and disadvantages and application fields, so they should not be one-sided. Regulators, industry organizations and industry chains should pay attention to individual products that have problems or even are prohibited by some regulations, rather than killing a large class of products with one stick, such as all halogen-based plastic flame retardants or halogen-free plastic flame retardants. We should realize that halogen-free flame retardant only shows that it does not contain five halogen elements, bromine, chlorine, fluorine, iodine and tinum. It can neither represent the green environment protection nor the development direction of the whole industry. Different plastic flame retardants should be balanced and coordinated development, play their respective important role in fire safety.
The above is to correctly treat the whole content of non-halogenation of plastic flame retardants from the perspective of development, hoping to be helpful to you. Welcome to visit our website and learn more about plastic flame retardants.
