Fire retardant thermal insulation

The feasibility of using these elastomeric foams as fire retardant thermal insulation has been demonstrated by a Department of the Navy-National Bureau of Standards Test Program (54). 

Film or sheet generally function as supports for other materials, as barriers or covers such as packaging, as insulation, or as materials of constmction. The uses depend on the unique combination of properties of the specific resins or plastic materials chosen. When multilayer films or sheets are made, the product properties can be varied to meet almost any need. Further modification of properties can be achieved by use of such additives or modifiers as plasticizers (qv), antistatic agents (qv), fire retardants, sHp agents, uv and thermal stabilizers, dyes (qv) or pigments (qv), and biodegradable activators. 

Some of the chemicals mentioned above and others, such as chlorinated mbber or paraffin, antimony trioxide, calcium carbonate, calcium borate, pentaerythrithol, alumina trihydrate, titanium dioxide, and urea—melamine—formaldehyde resin, may be used to formulate fire retardant coatings. Many of these coatings are formulated in such a way that the films intumesce (expand) when exposed to fire, thus insulating the wood surface from further thermal exposure. Fire retardant coatings are mostly used for existing constmction. 

The compounds so formed have excellent thermal stability and are self-extinguishing and even completely fire-retardant. Their properties are given in Table 13.14. A few common types of insulators and supports are shown in Figure 13.31. 

Whilst rigid closed-cell polyurethanes are excellent thermal insulators they do suffer from a limited and often unsatisfactory level of fire resistance, even in the presence of phosphorus-containing and halogen-containing fire retardants. Considerable promise is now being shown by the polyisocyanurates, which are also based on isocyanate chemistry. 

Examples A, closed cell thermal insulation with high fire retardency and low smoke generation (52,54) B, pigmented APN coatings in aluminum substrates with low flammability, low flame spread, and low smoke (55) C, APN insulation and cable jacketing (56) D, open cell APN comfort cushioning (57). (Photograph courtesy of the Firestone Tire... 

The PBDEs (decaBDE, octaBDE, and pentaBDE) and are used as flame retardants in plastics, electronic equipment, printed circuit boards, vehicles, furniture, textiles, carpets, and building materials. Global demand has increased rapidly since the 1970s with 70,000 tonnes produced in 2001. Their flame retardant activity relies on decomposition at high temperatures, leading to the release of bromine atoms. This slows the chemical reactions that drive 02-dependent fires. HBCDs are a flame retardant added to extruded and expanded polystyrene that is used as thermal insulation in buildings. 

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral and was widely used as an insulation material in building constmction [35]. Asbestos possesses a number of good physical characteristics that make it useful as thermal insulation and fire-retardant material. It is electrically nonconductive. 

For more demanding applications, tetrabromophthalate ester is a thermally stable liquid fire-retardant additive with a bromine content of approximately 45wt%. Decabromodiphenyl ether is used for foamed soft PVC for thermal insulation even if diphenyl ether-free systems have been developed because of environmental concerns. 

CAL TB 117 Requirements, Test Procedures and Apparatus for Testing the Flame Retardance of Resilient Filling Materials Used in Upholstered Furniture. Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation, Sacramento, CA. EN 13501 Fire Classification of Construction Products and Building Elements - Part 1 - Classification Using Test Data from Reaction-to-Fire Tests. European Committee for Standardization, Brussels, Belgium. 

Electrical and electronic devices are made utilizing several various types of plastic materials, thus when discarded their waste is difficult to recycle. The plastics employed in housing and other appliances are more or less homogeneous materials (among others PP, PVC, PS, HIPS, ABS, SAN, Nylon 6,6, the pyrolysis liquids of which have been discussed above). However, metals are embedded in printed circuit boards, switches, junctions and insulated wires, moreover these parts contain fire retardants in addition to support and filler materials. Pyrolysis is a suitable way to remove plastics smoothly from embedded metals in electrical and electronic waste (EEW), in addition the thermal decomposition products of the plastics may serve as feedstock or fuel. PVC, PBT, Nylon 6,6, polycarbonate (PC), polyphenylene ether (PPO), epoxy and phenolic resins occur in these metal-containing parts of EEW. 

Rigid urethane foams have been used exclusively in areas which require high thermal insulation and flame retardance, such as household refrigerators, deep freezers, and cold-storage warehouses. However due to the low flame retardance and poor fire resistance of rigid urethane foams, serious fire hazards have been reported and building applications... 

This specification, prepared by the Navy, covers polyphosphazene elastomeric foam material for thermal insulation on piping, in either sheet or tubing form. Polyphosphazene foam has excellent fire-retardant properties and is suitable for use in the range -20 to 180°F (-29 to 82.TC) in tubular form (Form T). Form S covers sheet form. 

Asbestos cement materials are widely used due to their good mechanical properties, low thermal conductivity and resistance to weathering, frost and rotting. The slurry of asbestos and cement can also be processed directly using a spray process, as so-called asbestos spray for fire-retarding layers as well as for thermal (hot and cold) and sound insulation. 

Foamed carbon has 600 times the thermal insulation capacity of the same weight of firebrick and is therefore used as a self-supporting thermal insulation material in furnaces or in fire-retarding sandwich-constructions. Foamed carbon cores are used in foundry technology, because they are easily produced and can be easily removed by combustion from inaccessible cavities. Furthermore foamed carbon is utilized as a filter material for the filtration of corrosive materials, as sintered plugs in gas inlets, as an electrode material and as a catalyst support. 

The sources of asbestos and other mineral fibres in indoor environments are fire-retardants, acoustic, thermal or electric insulation and structural material. Some of the mineral fibres such as asbestos were used commonly in the past... 

Table 1 Uses of Alumina Solid alumina Furnace components Catalyst substrates Electronics substrates Electrical insulators Cutting tools Bearings Spark Plugs Arc lamp tubes Laser hosts Gem stones Alumina powders Abrasives Catalyst pellets Alumina coatings Oxidation protection of aluminum and aluminum alloys Capacitors Transisitors Bioceramics Alumina fibers Thermal insulators Fire retardation Alumina as a component of...

Though closed-cell rigid polyurethane foams are excellent thermal insulators, they suffer form the drawback of unsatisfactory fire resistance even in the presence of phosphorus- and halogen-based fire retardants. In this context, polyisocyanurates, which are also based on isocyanates, have shown considerable promise. Isocyanurate has greater flame resistance then urethane. Although rigid polyurethane is specified for the temperatures up to 200°F (93°C), rigid polyisocyanurate foams, often called trimer foams, withstand use temperatures to 300°F (149°C). Physical properties and insulation efficiency are similar for both types. 

The fiber offers fire resistance and high thermal insulation together with low smoke emission, low electrical conductivity and a weight saving. Current applications include aircraft fuselage thermal insulation, aircraft fire blockers, fire protective clothing, personal insulation and fire retardant insulation boards for special lightweight applications. Table 23.7 lists the vertical burn test results for several Curlon fiber blends. 

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