Identification of Flame Retardants
The European RoHS Directive prohibits the use of several harmful substances that are used in polymers as additives to reduce the flammability of the material - flame retardants. These include, but are not limited to, brominated halogenated hydrocarbons, or brominated flame retardants (BFRs) - such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).
FTIR spectroscopy is a very suitable technique for rapid and non-destructive determination of the type of flame retardant and for approximate monitoring of the content of these additives in concentrations typically up to 5%.
Part of the Bruker solution is a pre-prepared identification and quantification method including the most common plastics and retardants in various concentrations, and therefore it is possible to determine the approximate content, in addition to the identification of the retardant.
It is also possible to use common libraries of retardants and plastics and use the common approach of other manufacturers, which is based on standard database search - see the application video below:
