EVALUATION OF THE SYNERGISTIC INTERACTION BETWEEN DECABROMOBIPHENYL OXIDE AND ALUMINA ON THE FLAMMABILITY AND THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF UNSATURATED POLYESTER RESIN

The bromine performance of decabromobiphenyl oxide (dbbo) as a flame retardant for unsaturated polyester resin (up) had been investigated in its own and in the presence of aluminum oxide (al 2o3) using ul-94v and limiting oxygen index (loi). thermal behaviors of the resulted systems were evaluated using thermal analysis technique. dbbo showed a satisfactory fire retardant performance for up, particularly when used at a loading higher than 30 wt%. in contrast aluminum oxide has no significant effect on the reduction of the flammability. treatment of up with mixtures containing different portions of dbbo and alumina showed that, the best performance of these mixtures as a flame retardant occurred when the mixture is rich in dbbo. the maximum synergism between the two additives has been observed to occur at a weight ratio of dbbo to al2o3 of 5:6. a possible explanation for the observed synergism between the two additives was given. the synergism was partly attributed to the formation of aluminum halide species which enhance the rate of halogen released from the halogenated compound and consequently reduce the flammability of the resin.