Ceramifying fire-retardant and fire-barrier unsaturated polyester composites

Fire-barrier performance is an important property where the polymer composite can continue to provide a barrier to spread of fire after the polymer has burned. In this work a barrier is created by formation of a self-supporting ceramic from the inorganic fillers, over a temperature range where the polymer undergoes thermal degradation. Thermogravimetry showed that degradation of the unsaturated polyester resin left a residual char that subsequently degraded in parrale with reactions of the fire-retardants and ceramifying flux.