Polyesters: A review of the literature on products of combustion and toxicity

Abstract

The available literature was reviewed to determine the nature and extent of information available on the thermal decomposition products and the toxicity of the combustion products of polyester materials used in consumer applications such as textiles and building construction. This literature review is limited to those publications printed in English through June 1984. The thermal decomposition products of polyesters are a function of temperature and oxygen content of the atmosphere. In general, as the temperature increases, the quantity of heavier hydrocarbons decreases and the production of CO and CO, increases. The presence of flame retardant additives, such as bromine and chlorine-containing compounds, produce halogenated combustion products. The use of phosphorus and bromine together in the same flame retardant finish increases the concentration of low molecular weight compounds. Thirteen different test protocols have been used to evaluate the toxicity of various types of polyester. Non-flame retarded polyesters give measured LC,, values ranging from 30.5 mg 1-to 95.7 mg I-', while flame retarded polyesters, have LC,,values ranging from 24.0 mg I-to 38.0 mg I-'. Several exceptions, however, are noted. Toxicologists consider these differences to be not significant. In general, the results from large-scale tests are ambiguous because of the presence of other materials in addition to the polyesters.

Toxicity Of The Combustion Products From A Flexible Polyurethane Foam And Polyester Fabric Evaluated Separately And Together By The Nbs Toxicity Test Method

“…Since the majority of commercially available upholstered furniture today contains some formulation of flexible polyurethane foam as a filling material and a covering fabric which is either a cellulosic or a thermoplastic such as polyester, these two materials were chosen for this study. Many small-scale laboratory studies have examined the toxicity of the combustion products from flexible polyurethane foams [2] or polyesters [3]. There have also been numerous large-scale room burns of chairs, multiple materials, or composite materials which included these materials.…”

Comparison of laser ablation and inclined plane tracking tests as a means to rank materials for outdoor HV insulators

“…These differences can be explained by considering the very different thermal degradation pathways of the two materials; polycarbonate degrades to primarily form aromatic hydrocarbons [15] thereby explaining the ashy layer in Figure 4c. In contrast, polyester primarily forms small volatile molecules such as water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide [16], thereby explaining the voiding seen in Figure 4b and the obvious lack of ashing; presumably here vaporization of these compounds demands additional energy from the laser beam and hence reduces the initial ablation rate as observed (Table 3). Consideration of the dependence of weight loss against hole depth (Figure 3b) indicates that the only material to enter an obvious "regime II" behavior is sample D. This again seems to be due to the formation of an ashy protective layer as observed in the previous set of composites.…”

Thermal Stability Enhancement of Cotton and Cotton Polyester Blend Fabrics by Hyperbranched Poly Urethane-Urea Treatment

“…On the other hand, the thermal degradation of polyester, takes place through random scission of the ester bonds along polymer chains followed by pyrolysis of small esters formed [21].…”