Study on the Fire Retardancy of HIPS/OMMT Composite at Different Burning Modes

HIPS/OMMT composites were prepared by the melt intercalation approach.The cone calorimeter,LOI and UL-94 were used to assess the flammability of HIPS/OMMT composites.It was demonstrated that OMMT exhibits different flame retardancy behaviors in the three different fire tests.In the cone calorimeter test,the OMMT retards HIPS well in terms of significant reduction of heat release rates,while in LOI and UL-94 tests the OMMT improves the flame retardancy of HIPS less.The analyses showed that the three fire tests correspond to different burning modes,which influence the flame retardant effectiveness of OMMT in HIPS.The mechanisms of flame retardancy of HIPS/OMMT composites associated with three methods were discussed.This study examines the burning modes of these fire testing methods as well as the response of PLS material with each mode.