Flame Retardancy Enhancement of Polystyrene Using Ammonium Bromide

Abstract

The effectiveness of ammonium bromide as flame retardant was determined by characterizing treated and untreated polystyrene for ignition time, flame propagation rate and afterglow time at different percentage concentrations of salt. Results showed that flame propagation rate and afterglow time decreased with increases in the concentration of ammonium bromide while ignition time was observed to have increased with increases in ammonium bromide. The results were interpreted on the basis that on heating, ammonium bromide evolved gases, viz NH and HBr which not only dilute O concentration but also generate radicals that interfere with the chemistry of combustion of these polystyrene plastic samples.