Flame Retardant Agents | Electronics Industry

Manufacturing News Center - New PBT grades specially designed for the electrical/electronic industry

Fuse Holder - Celanex resins are available with high performance non-exuding flame retardant packages

PRESS RELEASE-Jobwerx News-Kelsterbach, Germany-November 10th, 2004 –Ticona has developed a new range of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) grades which are free from brominated flame-retardant agents. Known as Celanex® XFR, these alternative products are designed with future legislation in mind. For Ticona's customers they come at just the right time. The new range meets all requirements contained in the latest European recycling regulations, which make equipment manufacturers responsible for electronic scrap as of August 2005.

Flame-retardant PBTs have been firmly established in the electrical/electronic market for many years. "Up to now there hasn't been any real alternative to brominated flame-retardant agents which also meet the requirements of UL 94 V-0 – one of the strictest flammability classifications", explains Jürgen Kulpe, Ticona's Business Line Director for Hostaform, Polyester and Celstran. This flammability rating is based on a flame ignition test used by the American Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

Filled and reinforced PBT grades have excellent molding characteristics and will fill complex and/or thin-walled parts in relatively short cycles. Levels of regrind up to 50% can be tolerated in many cases.

Four special grades: all flame-retardant without halogens or antimony
The new Celanex XFR range consists of four grades: one unreinforced and three reinforced with 10, 20 or 30 percent glass fibers. The patented flame-retardant system uses an organic phosphorus compound. Four main features distinguish it from other phosphorus-containing flame-retardant

• High efficacy
• Thermal stability up to 300 degrees Celsius
• Virtual absence of migration and emissions
• Problem-free coloration of the compounds

The low density of the XFR product range is another advantage, especially from a cost viewpoint. PBTs are used in large and small electrical equipment items or appliances, electromechanical components (plugs, switches, relays), and in household and industrial installation work. The need to develop a new range of products resulted from new EU directives aimed at improving safety and environmental protection. Ticona's new PBT grades, whose flame-retardant systems contain neither bromine nor antimony, still retain virtually all the good mechanical and electrical properties of conventional PBTs. Compared with other halogenated compounds, their high tracking resistance (CTI value) and excellent UV stability offer added product appeal.

While PBT compounds are the larger share of products made from this versatile resin, there are also important applications for the neat polymer, which comes in a variety of viscosities to meet processing and performance requirements. Special grades are available for extrusion applications ranging from monofilament to fiber-optic buffer tubes. The base resin also serves as an important component in high impact blends and alloys like Ticona’s Vandar® thermoplastic polyester alloys.

Large number of standards requires long-term planning
Currently there are a number of individual national, European and international standards for electrical and electronic equipment makers. In addition, there are numerous major test marks and a constant stream of new directives. "This is driving up costs in the whole industry but at the same time it's also adding to the pressure for innovation", comments Jürgen Kulpe. The need to develop new product ranges in good time is therefore paramount, he explains. "We have to respond to future directives or laws even before they come into force", he continues. And Ticona, the Kelsterbach-based polymers specialist, has succeeded in doing just that with the launch of Celanex XFR. In Germany, parliamentary consultations on the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Law, which is based on two important EU directives, are due to be held very shortly.

The new European laws and directives
The European WEEE Directive (Directive 2002/96/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) and also the RoHS Directive (Directive 2002/95/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances) came into force on February 13, 2003. In Germany, their provisions are contained in the new Electrical and Electronic Equipment Law. Provided that the new law is passed at the beginning of 2005, manufacturers will be subject to certain obligations from August 13, 2005 onward, such as a duty to take back such equipment at their own cost and to mark new equipment. In addition it means that from July 2006 there will be several substances that equipment must no longer contain.

Ticona, the technical polymers business of the Celanese Group, produces and markets a broad range of engineering polymers. Ticona has approximately 2,000 employees at production, compounding and research facilities in the USA, Germany and Brazil.

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