Recent progress in additive inorganic flame retardants polymer composites: Degradation mechanisms, modeling and applications

Additive flame retardant offers several advantages in terms of formulation, improved performance and reduced environmental impact. These additives result in superior thermal management and the delay of thermal runaway events which ensures safety as well as durability. This review underlines the importance of appropriate additive flame retardant selection such as zinc borate, alumina and other inorganic flame retardants within the epoxy matrix. This study sets itself apart by introducing modeling and simulation techniques and comparing various additive flame retardants in terms of enhancing flame retardant properties, tensile strength and toughness of the composite. It also includes a more in-depth examination of manufacturing processes, burning mechanism and stabilization of polymer composite. The importance of conducting characterization such as cone calorimetry, UL-94 test is summarized for validating the desired flame retardant properties. Furthermore, it addresses the principal challenges and offers strategies to overcome these challenges based on the current research landscape.