Guide to non-halogenated flame-retardant polymers for the electrical and electronics industry

The electrical and electronics (E&E) industry is under unprecedented regulatory pressure to conform to tough health, safety and environmental directives that render many commonly used plastics and elastomers non-compliant. Now help is at hand with a new E&E White Paper published by DuPont Performance Materials that provides a step-by-step guide to the latest materials that comply with tough non-halogen, flame retardant (NHFR) requirements, looks at key emerging trends, and outlines DPM’s materials and applications development expertise.

Entitled ‘DuPont Non-Halogenated Flame Retardant Polymers for Electrical and Electronic Applications’ it is intended to help design engineers and material specifiers select the DuPont products that will bring the greatest benefits to their application, by improving performance while reducing the health and environmental impact of the materials used.

The white paper reviews current legislation requiring the plastics and elastomers used by the industry to be halogen-free and flame-retardant, produce low smoke emissions, be recyclable, and comply with the WEEE and RoHS Directives, and the REACH Regulation on managing chemical risks and substitution. It also outlines key standards and tests for E&E industry compliance, including IEC 60335 and UL 94 for the safety of electrical appliances and the flammability of plastics used, EN 45545 for the fire testing of materials and components for trains, and UL 746 to evaluate the physical, electrical, flammability and thermal properties of polymers for electrical equipment.

Also included are DuPont solutions to many urgent E&E market needs from new energy saving and delivery systems to materials substitution, and from downsizing and lightweighting to miniaturisation — accomplished by tailoring products to applications from the company’s portfolio of high-performance fully compliant NHFR products for electrical components including Crastin PBT, Hytrel TPE, Rynite PET and Zytel PPA and PA66 polyamides — backed by DuPont know-how in processing predictive engineering and Computer Aided Design.