Advantages of Flame Retardant Engineering Plastics
- time:
- 2019-05-13
At present, halogen-containing flame retardants on the market are likely to have potential hazards to the environment and human health, but because coatings engineering plastics are widely used in the construction industry, flame retardants are indispensable additives. Therefore, in order to solve this contradiction, some engineering plastics users abandoned the application of these plastic additives and chose those engineering plastics with flame retardant properties.
Flame retardant polymers mainly include polyether ether ketone (PEEK), polyether imide (PEI), polyphenylene sulfide (PPS), polyphenylene sulfone (PPSU), polyether sulfone (PES), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and liquid crystal polymer (LCP). Other polymers such as PVC and modified polyphenyl ether (PPO) have certain flame retardancy, but a certain amount of additives need to be added to enhance this performance.
PEI is an amorphous polymer with a continuous temperature of 180 C. It has strong tolerance to hydrocarbons, halogen-containing solvents, water and automotive liquids. Its glass transition temperature is 217 C.
According to the data provided by GE, PEI supplier, the spline flame burning rate of 0.25mm was tested to be V-0 by UL94. It has low smoke emission, can withstand a variety of chemicals, and has high strength, modulus and high temperature creep resistance. There are two kinds of PEI resins: non-reinforced grade and reinforced grade. Typical fillers are carbon fibers, glass fibers and certain minerals.
In the manufacture of automotive parts, PEI can replace metal to manufacture dampers, sensors, air conditioners, ignition system parts and transmission system parts. PEI's flame retardancy, low smoke emission and low toxic gas emissions also enable the material to be used in aerospace vehicles, such as gas and fuel valves, steering wheels, interior decorative surfaces, food pallets, etc.
Electronic lighting components such as connectors and mirrors made of PEI materials are also designed to give full play to the advantages of flame retardancy of the polymer. In addition, PEI can be processed by standard injection moulding method, and the wall thickness of the parts can reach 0.25 mm. PEI should be dried for several hours at 140-150 C before processing.
Flame-retardant polymers usually have other excellent properties, such as strength, dimensional stability, chemical resistance and abrasion resistance, but these materials are usually more expensive than those without flame retardancy. However, in applications requiring high performance and high flame retardancy, these resins are needed to develop their capabilities.
