The Influence of Flame Retardant Agents in the Fire Performance of SMC

Abstract

Sheet moulding compounds (SMC) have, in the present time, many applications, namely, in the transportation and electrical industries. The objective of the present work is to study the influence of flame retardant agents in the fire behavior of SMC. A set of 6 sheet moulding compound formulations was produced, with equal glass fiber weight percentage and different non-flaming formulations. Its behavior was compared, in respect to their fire reaction, with that of 2 commercially available SMC´s. A Cone Calorimeter was used to measure the time-to-ignition, the rate of heat release, the effective heat of combustion, the mass loss, the specific extinction area and both carbon monoxide and dioxide concentrations produced by the materials combustion. A Smoke Box was used to obtain the smoke density of the first four minutes of test, the maximum specific optical density and the smoke obscuration index. It was concluded that, in some SMC formulations, the use of flame retardants cut down both the heat release rate and opacity of the released smokes during combustion.

Effects of dual cure and surface treatments on coating adhesion to different SMC substrates

“…There are many different additives that are combined with the basic SMC formulation consisting of unsaturated polyester, catalyst, glass fibre, and inorganic fillers. [5][6][7] In order to toughen and improve the impact strength of thermoset polyesters such as SMCs, liquid rubbers with reactive functional groups have been added. These liquid rubbers, such as styrene butadiene rubber, are added to the uncured resin and upon curing precipitate as particles of a few micrometres dispersed throughout the matrix.…”