Seven o’clock in the morning. Punctually Fabian is woken up by the ringing of his mobile phone. He is so enthusiastic about his new smartphone that he uses it virtually around the clock – and as an alarm clock, just like many other people. In order for it to reliably fulfill its wake-up function, his battery needs to be charged regularly. That’s why the smartphone usually hangs on the power overnight. With such “continuous current”, not only the battery but also the connector of the charging cable is of course quite demanding. Fabian doesn’t worry about this, he trusts the material completely.

How safe products and the environment are with regard to fire protection depends on many factors. These become important as early as the composition of the basic materials for the later end products. It’s a good thing that our LANXESS flame retardant experts and their additives have been involved in these different products. For example, plugs and cables are made of different plastics depending on their intended use: polyamides, polyesters, PVC and other polymers or rubber. Products from our Firemaster® or Uniplex series ensure operational reliability in the manufacture of connectors, as do Disflamoll® or Reofos® in cable production. So Fabian can sleep peacefully, because the manufacturers have added the important additives to their materials.

The mode of action of these additives is a complicated process and usually consists of a chemical and a physical process. If too much heat is generated, the substances present in the cable or connector cause a change in the molecular chains, which instead of immediate combustion initially leads to charring of the material. Thus, in the event of an impending cable fire, a kind of protective layer is directly created which slows down or even prevents the fire process.

Safe on the road

Back to Fabian: With his fully charged mobile phone, he sets off for work after breakfast and swings himself into his car. He connects his smartphone to the car for the half-hour drive. Once again, flame protection solutions from LANXESS ensure that Fabian is safe. The components of the car’s interior are also fire-protected – whether the cables and plugs in the cockpit or, for example, the artificial leather surfaces, the front and rear seats and the headlining. In the event of a fire, these elements could otherwise become a life-threatening danger for the vehicle occupants. The materials used here therefore also contain highly effective flame retardants from LANXESS, such as Disflamoll® , Levagard® and Reofos®. And Fabian? He doesn’t even notice all these important additives in his car, because they invisibly ensure his safety. Fabian simply arrives at work feeling good and without traffic jams.

Every second counts

To ensure that people like Fabian can rightly place their trust in the modern products of our time, we at LANXESS are working systematically on safe and sustainable material solutions. Preventing and suppressing fires therefore plays a crucial role in the development of plastics. That’s why our development teams work every day to ensure compliance with strict fire safety standards in order to reduce the harmful effects of fires on people, property and the environment as far as possible in advance.

This is because flame retardants are not only intended to prevent fires from breaking out, but also to slow down the spread of the fire in the event of a fire. This creates saving seconds or minutes for escape from the danger zone and the deployment of auxiliary personnel. Such a time window can make all the difference in saving lives. We offer one of the world’s most comprehensive ranges of flame retardants and our development, consulting and sales teams support manufacturers in a wide variety of product areas.