Latest: BASF and THOR have combined their expertise in non-halogen flame retardant additives to provide customers with comprehensive solutions to improve the sustainability and performance of specific plastic compounds and Meet strict fire safety requirements.

Flame retardancy is an essential element of plastic parts or composites commonly used in transportation, construction, domestic and industrial applications where accidental heat and flame exposure can cause serious damage and endanger lives. Growing demand from the global construction and automotive industries, coupled with stricter fire safety standards, will significantly impact the demand for sustainable flame retardant chemicals.

THOR's experts and BASF's plastic additives experts have been working together for many years to develop complex solutions to meet stringent flame retardant specifications, with a focus on alternatives to halogen-containing additives.

Both parties are active members of the Phosphorus, Inorganic and Nitrogen Flame Retardants Association, PINFA, and work closely together to provide sustainable polymer systems that can withstand ignition and flame propagation during their service life.

Comprehensive expertise in flame retardant additives informs customers and end users, highlighting the synergistic benefits of BASF's halogen-free flame retardant Flamestab® and THOR's phosphonate AFLAMMIT® technology for use in often challenging flame retardants Polyolefins for combustion applications.

Armin, Head of Performance Chemicals at THOR Eckert said: “A comprehensive and multi-faceted evaluation of additive solutions is critical to reducing time-to-market. The closer our proposed formulations are to the end user’s requirements, the shorter the development time and cost for our customers. At THOR, we continuously Efforts are made to improve our flame retardants and their performance in the desired plastic compounds. There are a large number of fire safety standards available to test our own developed flame retardant formulations, as required by the market. As a service, our project collaboration Partners, such as BASF, provide us with newly formulated plastic films, molded or extruded test specimens for evaluating performance.”

Dr. Achim Sties, Senior Vice President Performance Chemicals Europe at BASF, said: "It is a real challenge to provide plastic parts with excellent fire safety while maintaining other properties such as mechanical properties and light stability. BASF's technical experts are working hard to provide solutions to meet customer requirements and respond with cost-effective and sustainable technical solutions using our strong experience and network. Together with THOR, we focus on a portfolio of technologies that help shorten the journey for a formulator or processor to reach their flame retardancy goals and effectively advance certification in a complex specification and testing environment. ”