Study of the Activity of Some Metal Oxides and Salts as Flame Retardants for Unsaturated Polyester Resin

Abstract

In this work, calcium carbonate (I), ammonium dihydrogen ortho phosphate (II) and magnesium oxide (III) were used as flame retardants for unsaturated polyester resin in the weight ratios of (0,2,4,7,10 and 12) %, by preparing films of $0.30 \times 130 \times 3 \text{ mm}$ in dimensions. Three standard test methods used to measure the flame retardancy which are: ASTM D-2863 to measure the limiting oxygen index (LOI) , ASTM D-635 to measure the rate of burning (R.B) & ASTM D-3014 to measure the maximum height of flame (H). Results obtained from these tests indicated that, $\text{CaCO}_3$, $\text{H}_2\text{NH}_4\text{PO}_4$ and $\text{MgO}$ have a good effect as flame retardants for unsaturated polyester resin. Ammonium dihydrogen ortho phosphate was the best.