Metallurgy / Chemicals / Rubber & Plastics

BASF and THOR GmbH have combined their expertise in non-halogenated flame retardant additives to provide customers with comprehensive solutions to improve the sustainability and performance of specific plastic compounds and meet stringent fire safety requirements.

Flame retardancy is an essential element of plastic parts or composites commonly used in transportation, construction, domestic and industrial applications where accidental heat and flame exposure can cause serious damage and endanger lives. Growing demand from the global construction and automotive industries, coupled with stricter fire safety standards, will significantly impact the demand for sustainable flame retardant chemicals.

THOR's experts and BASF's plastic additives experts have been working together for many years to develop complex solutions to meet demanding flame retardant specifications, with a focus on alternatives to halogen-containing additives.

Both parties are active members of the Phosphorus, Inorganic and Nitrogen Flame Retardants Association, PINFA, and work closely together to provide sustainable polymer systems that can withstand ignition and flame propagation during their service life.

Comprehensive expertise in flame retardant additives informs customers and end users, highlighting the synergistic benefits of BASF's halogen-free flame retardant Flamestab® and THOR's phosphonate AFLAMMIT® technology for polyolefins, which are typically A challenging flame retardant application.

Armin Eckert, Head of Performance Chemicals at THOR, said: “A thorough and multi-faceted evaluation of additive solutions is critical to reducing time-to-market. The closer our proposed formulations are to end-user requirements, the less development time and cost our customers can expect. The shorter. At THOR, we are constantly striving to improve our flame retardants and their performance in the desired plastic compounds. There are a large number of fire safety standards available to test our own developed flame retardant formulations as the market demands. As a service, our project partners, such as BASF, provide us with newly formulated plastic films, moulded or extruded test specimens for evaluating performance.”

Dr. Achim Sties, Senior Vice President, European Performance Chemicals, BASF, said: “It is a real challenge to provide plastic parts with excellent fire safety while maintaining other properties such as mechanical properties and light stability. BASF’s technical experts are working hard to provide solutions to meet customer requirements and leverage our strong experience and network to respond with cost-effective and sustainable technology solutions. Together with THOR, we focus on technology portfolios that help shorten formulators or processors to achieve their progress toward flame retardant goals and effectively advance certification in a complex specification and testing environment.”