Meeting Stringent Fire Safety Standards with a New Eco-Benign Polymer/Enabler
Inorganic Polymer Aqueous Solution (IPAS) technology is more than just a flame retardant (FR). Conventional FR incorporated materials, when exposed to fire, burn and diminish once the source is removed. These agents merely improve resistance to ignition and they slow down flame spread with limited incombustible capabilities. Smoke generation is another concern. To this end, IPAS technology provides absolute fire insulation via an oxygen barrier without posing any harm to humans and the environment. While conventional FR systems may fulfill statutory fire safety requirements, they come under scrutiny from various agencies for their environmental and health hazards. Furthermore, FR industry had a tainted history of substituting one toxin with another, when faced with claims of undesirable side effects. In response, new non-toxic nano-materials have been developed, showing great potential towards fire/flame resistance on the laboratory scale. However, there are workplace safety concerns regarding long-term contact with nano-particles and their present cost is prohibitive. All these factors inhibit their uptake in commercial FR applications. IPAS technology addresses these problems. As an eco-benign FR enabler, only readily available and renewable inorganic ingredients are used, which makes fire protection eco-friendly, sustainable and cost effective. Being an adaptable product that can take on multiple forms (liquid, powder, etc.), it can be incorporated as the main component of many FR systems, namely - wood, textile, paper, metal and plastics, providing exceptional fire/thermal resistance—incombustibility—with no harmful vapour emissions. This technology can be easily scaled-up, to greatly improve the safety of lives and assets.