For most melt-processed polymeric materials, resolving melt-dripping problems is more difficult than improving their flame retardancy and the two are often interlinked. Presence of flame retardants increases the melt viscosity of polymers and affects their rheological behavior.  A higher melt viscosity is beneficial for reducing melt dripping while burning. High shear viscosity also results in reduced flame spread. To prove this hypothesis, in this work the effect of different flame retardants on melt dripping, melt/flame dripping in the UL94 test and melt viscosity of a representative group of commercially important thermoplastic materials has been studied.  An experimental setup has been constructed to record the real-time melt-dripping behaviour in a furnace. All experiments were repeated in a UL-94 set-up to replicate their melt dripping behaviour in flaming conditions. A relationship between melt viscosity /rheology and burning intensity of these polymers has been established.

Fire behaviour characterization of melt dripping thermoplastics

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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