Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
National Fire Protection Association reported 1,318,500 fires (2018) (every 24 seconds, a fire department in the United States responds to a fire) and 3173 fire death (2017) (74% of all fire deaths occurred at home). Home fires were responsible for 11,200 civilian injuries, or 74% of all civilian injuries in 2018. The total cost of fires in 2014, including fire protection, and human loss, was US$328,500,000,000. These statistics are alarming, and they show why and where the primary emphasis on protection exists.
In view of these statistics, it is not surprising that the development of flame retardants is one of the major targets of the chemical industry. The main categories of flame retardants include halogenated, inorganic, phosphorus, intumescent, and nitrogen types. At the same time, 27 chemical groups are used in currently active flame retardants, which shows extensive research activity in the field.
The major application of flame retardants is in products used at home (furnishings, appliances, upholstery, carpets, curtains, fabrics, etc.), electronic and electrical devices, (computers, TV sets, phones, wiring, etc.), building construction materials, and transportation products (cars, airplanes, railroad equipment, etc.).
The above applications suggest close contact of humans with materials containing these additives, which emphasizes the effects of their toxicity, as well as the effect on the environment. The most adverse health effects are associated with endocrine and thyroid disruption, impacts on the immune system, reproductive toxicity, cancer, adverse effects on fetal and child development, and neurologic functions. For these reasons, the selection of flame retardants of lower toxicity and elimination of toxic products are high on agendas of manufacturers and regulating entities. This results in continuous changes in the availability of additives, making many previously published literature misleading since obsolete products are included in these publications.
Databook of Flame Retardants contains information on presently used additives in the form of tables containing five sections, such as General, Physical, Health & Safety, Ecological, and Use. Each section contains available data.
In total, over 100 types of data are included in the above sections. We use the same set of units to achieve the compatibility of data. At the same time, data can only be made available if the manufacturing companies provide them.
The definitions of all fields, which have been listed above and included in the description of additives, are given in the second chapter.
Databook of Flame Retardants is best utilized with the Handbook of Flame Retardants. Each book complements another without repeating information, with Databook containing data on over 350 commercial and literature-based products, and Handbook explaining the role of these products, their selection, mechanism of action, use in different polymers and products, and health and environmental issues related to flame retardants.