TY - JOUR A1 - Goller, Sebastian M. A1 - Schartel, Bernhard A1 - Krüger, Simone T1 - Phosphorus features halogen –calcium hypophosphite replaces antimony trioxide, reduces smoke, and improves flame retardancy JF - Thermochimica Acta N2 - Replacing antimony trioxide (ATO) in flame retardant formulations is an urgent task due to its toxicity. There are indications that calcium hypophosphite (CaP) may be a promising replacement. This study investigates the decomposition, fire behavior, and smoke release of brominated flame-retarded acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) under various fire scenarios like ignition, developing fire and smoldering, while replacing ATO with CaP and CaP/talc. Adding 4 wt.-% of talc to CaP formulations showed beneficial effects on flammability due to changes in the viscosity and barrier properties. Synergism between 8 wt.-% talc and CaP improved the protective layer in the developing fire scenario, resulting in a ∼60 % decrease in the peak of heat release rate and reduction of ∼21 % in total smoke production (ref. ABS+Br+ATO). With a conventional index of toxicity (CIT) of below 0.75, ABS+Br+CaP passes the highest requirements according to EN 45545-2. Overall, the CaP/talc materials improve flame retardancy, show less smoke emission under forced flaming conditions, and prevent chronic intoxication and environmental pollution through smoke particles contaminated with antimony. KW - Smoke KW - Flame retardancy KW - Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene KW - Calcium hypophosphite KW - Antimony trioxide PY - 2024 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tca.2024.179764 SN - 0040-6031 VL - 737 SP - 1 EP - 9 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-60063 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -