Photochemical behaviour of fire-retarded polymers

The influence of a non-halogenated intumescent fire retardant on the photooxidation of polypropylene is reported The photooxidation of polypropylene stabilised with a phenolic antioxidant and two redox antioxidants (HALS), without and With the flame retardant has been studied The chemical modifications resulting from UV-light exposure with wavelengths above 300 nm in the presence of oxygen were followed by IR and UV-visible spectroscopies Special attention was given to the influence of each component on the rate of oxidation of the polymeric matrix The photooxidation of the fire-retarded polymer can be described by two independent phenomena the photooxidation of the intumescent agent and the photooxidation of the polymer The results obtained offer new insight in the formulation of stabilised fire-retarded PP for outdoors applications (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.