TY - JOUR A1 - Schartel, Bernhard A1 - Perret, Birgit A1 - Dittrich, Bettina A1 - Ciesielski, M. A1 - Krämer, J. A1 - Müller, P. A1 - Altstädt, V. A1 - Zang, L. A1 - Döring, M. T1 - Flame retardancy of polymers: the role of specific reactions in the condensed phase JF - Macromolecular materials and engineering N2 - Condensed-phase mechanisms play a major role in fire-retardant polymers. Generations of development have followed the concept of charring to improve fire properties. Whereas the principal reactions are believed to be known, the specific description for multicomponent systems is lacking, as is the picture across different systems. A two-step approach is proposed in general, and also presented in greater detail. The second step covers the specific reactions controlling charring, whereas the actual reactants are provided in the preceding step. This model consistently incorporates the variety of structure–property relationships reported. A comprehensive case study is presented on seven phosphorus flame retardants in two epoxy resins to breathe life into the two-step approach. KW - Charring KW - Epoxy KW - Flame retardancy KW - Pyrolysis KW - Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) PY - 2016 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/mame.201500250 SN - 1438-7492 SN - 1439-2054 VL - 301 IS - 1 SP - 9 EP - 35 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-35273 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -