Flame retardant
Substance applied to items to slow burning or delay ignition / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about chemical flame retardants used in textiles, plastics and resins. For chemicals used to fight structure fires and wildfires, see Fire retardant.
Flame retardants are a diverse group of chemicals that are added to manufactured materials, such as plastics and textiles, and surface finishes and coatings.[1] Flame retardants are activated by the presence of an ignition source and prevent or slow the further development of flames by a variety of different physical and chemical mechanisms. They may be added as a copolymer during the polymerisation process, or later added to the polymer at a moulding or extrusion process or (particularly for textiles) applied as a topical finish.[2] Mineral flame retardants are typically additive, while organohalogen and organophosphorus compounds can be either reactive or additive.