Flame retardants iron compounds, their effect on fire and smoke in halogenated polymers

The purpose of this section is to give an up to date overview of the effects which some iron compounds have on flammability and smoke production when polymers burn in air. A glance at chemical abstracts indexes under iron, iron compounds or iron chemistry shows thousands of scientific papers appearing every year however, very few of these deal with the use of iron compounds as flame retarding/smoke suppressing additives for polymers. The recent chemistry of iron has been reviewed by Silver [1] but again there are few comments on the potential uses of iron compounds in polymers. 

The detailed mechanisms of how these iron compounds reduce smoke from burning PVC and in blends of PVC with ABS have not yet been fully resolved but it is thought that the Lewis-acid activity of some iron(in) compounds formed in situ may play a part in the smoke suppressing 

Iron compounds appear to have considerable potential as smoke suppressants, although they have not yet reached full commercial 

The burning characteristics of polymers cannot be thoroughly evaluated by determining a few simple fire parameters in the laboratory. Fire and combustion is very complex and at least four major features interact during the overall burning process  

These processes all contribute to the hazards associated with burning polymers, but it is now recognized that the three most important factors 

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Flame retardants iron compounds, their effect on fire and smoke in halogenated polymers ... 

Iron oxides have been shown to be good smoke suppressants in various systems. They also seem to be effective flame retardants when used in conjunction with a halogen source. (They are discussed more fully in the separate entries Smoke suppressants and Flame retardants iron compounds, their effect on fire and smoke in halogenated polymers. )... 

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