Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The fire retardance mechanisms of magnesium hydroxide and magnesium oxide for ethylene-ethylacrylate copolymers were studied experimentally; using polyethylene as a reference polymer, utilizing a high radiant furnace, thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimeter (TC-DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results show that both magnesium compounds have little fire retardance on polyethylene, but have remarkable one on the copolymers. The difference in this fire retardancy is due to the thermal stability of char layer formed on the sample surface, where char formation is due to certain intermolecular and/or intermolecular reactions resulting in cross-linking or aromatization between acrylates and magnesium compounds. A set of IR absorption bands obtained from the heated copolymer sample system indicates formation of double bond or metallic salt, supporting char formation mechanism.