EXPERIMENTAL-DESIGN OF FIRE-RETARDANT FORMULATIONS - SMC LOW-PROFILE FORMULATIONS

The problems originated by fire are important enough to carry out stud ies related to ignition, flame spread, combustibility, and smoke suppr ession for the purpose of obtaining materials with better fire behavio ur. An improvement in fire properties can be achieved using fire retar dants and smoke suppressants. Fire retardants can act by means of chem ical reactions where the combustion presents radicals with high energy in the gas phase. They can also react physically by several methods: developing a layer which protects the material from ignition on the su rface of the substrate, giving off non flammable gases such as H2O, CO 2, SO2, HCl, etc., in order to dissolve the flammable gases and withdr awing the oxygen from the fire area in the gas phase, improving certai n reactions such as endothermic ones or surface dehydrations. On the o ther hand, smoke suppressants can also act physically and chemically ( by means of Red-Ox reactions) in the condensed and gas phases. The pre sent work focuses on the study of SMC-LP(Sheet Moulding Compound Low P rofile) materials which are widely used in sectors such as: automotive , transport and building. In SMC low profile process, the polyester re sins are mixed with thermoplastic additives. In this way, the formulat ion obtained is called low profile due to the contraction inside the m ould tends to zero. On the other hand, using the proper process it is possible to obtain fibre reinforced plastics formulations with differe nt fire retardant and smoke suppressants. The main objective of the pr esent work has been an exhaustive analysis of the possible effects and interactions in fire and mechanical properties due to the different f illers added. This study has been carried out by means of an experimen tal design with statistical analysis of the results. The scope is focu sed on a further optimisation of these sorts of materials, in order to obtain a wide range of suitable formulations.