OPTIMIZATION STUDIES IN FLAME RETARDANT FIBRE REINFORCED PLASTIC COMPOSITES FOR ROOFING APPLICATION

Composite materials, especially, fibre reinforced plastics (FRP) are widely used in different fields such asaerospace, automobile, electrical and electronics, domestic, building and construction. It is also need of the hour in developing countries like India that low cost housing / building is to be provided within short duration at times of natural crisis such as Tsunamis, earthquake, floods etc. With this main objective the present work is aimed at carrying out studies systematically to arrive at cost effective flame retardant formulation using different Flame retardant fillers such as Aluminium tri hydrate (ATH), Antimony trioxide (Sb2O3), Deca Bromo diphenyl ether (DeBDE) a novel halogenated compound, Tricresyl phosphate (TCP) at different loading levels with general purpose unsaturated polyester resin and chopped strand glass fibre mat. The FRP laminates were prepared using hand lay up method and the samples were tested for various properties such as mechanical, thermal, flammability and smoke density tests. Among the various FR fillers tried, 3:2 ratio of 10% of DeBDE and Sb2O3 with 25% of ATH provides more cost effective FR formulation with good mechanical and flame retardant properties than the commercial FR formulation.