Sb2O3 antimony trioxide replacement alternative substitute

New type inorganic flame retardant synergist RTP-50

Overview: RTP-50 is a new type of superfine powder additive inorganic flame retardant synergist with excellent performance.    It is a mineral powder material that is made of wollastonite 600 meters below ground, through high-tech surface treatment agents and nano-modification technology, and was jointly developed by the R&D team of our company, Tsinghua University and relevant China national academicians.  

Product advantages:

1. Reduce customer’s production cost.

2. little of non-eco ingredients.

3. Reduction of product density

4. Reduce the amount of titanium dioxide needed for light-colored products.

5. Shorten the process of injection molding.

6. Increase the heat distortion temperature of the final product

Main ingredients: Magnesium Oxide/Silica/etc

Properties: This product is a white powder, whiteness ﹥98%, average particle size 1.1um, loss on ignition ﹤5.  It has the characteristics of high whiteness, high fineness, and high purity.     It has a large specific surface area, and the surface effect and volume effect of ultra-fine particles.  No skin irritation, no ordor, and no corrosion.

Application range：suitable for PA, PBT, PP, PET, ABS, PVC and PC/ABS……

Usage: This product is a new type of superfine additive inorganic flame retardant with excellent performance.

It can be used:

1. in halogen + antimony trioxide flame retardant system,  to replace part of antimony trioxide.

2. in antimony trioxide flame retardant system alone (no halogen flame retardant involved), to replace part of antimony trioxide.

Thermal decomposition temperature of RTP50 is 340°C.

Thanks to its special surface treatment, RTP50 achieves excellent compatibility and adhesion with plastic resins, has a great viscosity reduction effect;

RTP50 has good dipping performance with glass fiber and thus less mixing time ;

Allow good flowability and molding performance of the compound.

When used together with Sb2O3, the dosage of Sb2O3 can be greatly reduced, while

＞90% of the mechanical properties can be maintained.

Thanks to the high whiteness of RTP50, the amount of titanium dioxide (TiO2) needed for the production of white products can also be reduced, thus furtherly help cutting customer’s production cost.

Flame-retardant mechanism: This product can play an acid catalysis effect during the combustion of polymers, making the whole system partially cross-linked and carbonized, thus forming a char protective layer, to prevent the release of volatile decomposition products.  At the same time, RTP-50 can also reduce the decomposition temperature of antimony oxyhalide generated during the reaction between halogen flame retardants and Sb2O3, so as to achieve the purpose of assisting flame retardancy.

Features:

1. Excellent high-temperature resistance and thermal stability. TGA is only 0.5‰wt within 400℃.

2. Good compatibility with modified plastic products such as PA, PBT, PP, PET, ABS, PVC and PC+ABS alloy, therefore the mechanical properties of the final products can be well maintained.

3. RTP50 can replace Sb2O3 by 40%～60%wt, and at the same time no influence to the flame retardant performance.     Thus saving much production costs.

4. With no more than 3% addition of RTP50, flowability of the plastic compound can can be significantly improved, thereby improving the dimensional stability and surface smoothness of the final product.

RTP50 can also help significantly improve the electrical properties ( dielectrical strength and CTI) of the product.

RTP50 can help maintain the mechanical and electrical properties of the product under high temperature and high humidity circumstances.

                Test data on the following pages  ↓↓↓

         RTP-50 application data in bromine-antimony based 

flame retardant modified plastics     

Table 1： RTP50 used in PBT (formulas)

Table 2： RTP50 used in PBT (test results)

 Table 3：  RTP50 used in PA66 (formulas)

Table 4： RTP50 used in PA66 (test results)

               RTP-50 used in PA66 and PBT:   discussion and conclusion

According to the dosage table 1, 3 and sample test result table 2, 4, we can find similar changes after adding RTP-50 into PBT and PA66 FR systems respectively. The most significant change is the enhanced MFR(melt flow rate) with the increased dosage of RTP-50, while other mechanical properties are basically unchanged, which is good for the later molding process.

Moreover, when half the dosage of Sb2O3 is replaced by RTP-50, the FR performance is well maintained.  But RTP-50 can not yet completely replace Sb2O3 in Br-FR systems.

RTP-50 is an inorganic powder, more eco-friendly than Sb2O3. Most importantly, RTP-50 price is just about 1/6-1/5 the price of Sb2O3. And RTP-50 production

is not dependent on the expensive antimony resources, thus can largely reduce the customer’s cost for FR-treatment of PA66 and PBT, gaining customers the upper hand in market competition.

In addition, PA66 added with RTP-50 is whiter than with Sb2O3 alone, with enhanced physical appearance and coloring performance.

      Table 5：  RTP50 used in ABS (formulas)

Table 6： RTP50 used in ABS (test results)

                   RTP-50 used in ABS:  discussion and conclusion

According to the dosage table 5 and sample test result table 6, we can find enhanced MFR(melt flow rate), enhanced notch impact strength, and significantly lower material density with the increased dosage of RTP-50.

Moreover, when half or less the dosage of Sb2O3 is replaced by RTP-50, the FR performance is well maintained.

Besides, ABS added with RTP-50 is whiter than with Sb2O3 alone,and has better coloring performance.

       Table 7：  RTP50 used in PP (formulas)

Table 8： RTP50 used in PP (test results)

                 RTP-50 used in PP:  discussion and conclusion

According to the dosage table 7 and sample test result table 8, we can find enhanced MFR(melt flow rate), enhanced notch impact strength, and significantly lower material density with the increased dosage of RTP-50.

And, when 1/3 or less the dosage of Sb2O3 is replaced by RTP-50, the FR performance is well maintained.

Moreover, PP added with RTP-50 is whiter than with Sb2O3 alone, with enhanced surface glossiness and coloring performance.

Besides, as RTP-50 is an ultra-fine inorganic powder, it can perform nucleation effect in PP compounding, reducing the molding cycle, improving material distortion temperature. At the same time it can reduce the dosage of special nucleating agent in the compounding process, thus furtherly reducing the production cost.

 Table 9：  RTP50 used in HIPS (formulas)

 Table 10： RTP50 used in HIPS (test results)

RTP-50 used in HIPS:  discussion and conclusion

According to the dosage table 9 and sample test result table 10, we can find similar effect of RTP-50 added into HIPS, compared with RTP-50 added into ABS.

                      RTP50 used in PVC wire and cable (formulas)

Conclusion

As a new type inorganic powder additive-type flame retardant, RTP-50 can partly replace Sb2O3 in the bromine-antimony based flame retardant modification of many plastic types.  

While reducing customer’s production costs, it can also significantly improve the processability of materials. And can to some extent improve some of the mechanical properties of the modified plastic.

With the fast development of modern society, requests and expectations on modified plastics continue to increase.  And the continuous consumption of Metal mineral resources, which are non-renewable, their quantities are decreasing year by year due to increasing human consumption.

RTP50, as a new type additive, can help ease the consumption of precious mineral resources (antimony), and much more eco-friendly than antimony, thus worthy of customer welcome and acceptance.