Actually, Gentlemen, PVC compounds are doped with many different types of flame retardants. In fact, every plastic material must be doped with flame retardants to be flame retardant, because plastics are made from petroleum. However, there are PVC materials that that use flame retardants that when exposed to flame, produce water (steam) and CO2 as by-products, thus robbing the plastic of heat and oxygen. These hydroxy-doped PVC's are commercially available by all the big PVC manufacturers, and the cable manufacturers worth their salt all have product lines based on these PVC materials for insulation and jacket materials. All this aside, also remember that while these Hydroxy-retardant PVCs reduce greatly the halogenated by-products from combustion, PVC is still Poly-vinyl Chloride... Also look into Flame retardant Polyolefins (FRPE, FRPO) as basis for wires and cables, this is a good option for non-halogen applications, just more expensive with less applications than PVC.
Good Luck. If you need any more info, you can contact me directly. Regards, Robert Tims Compliance Engineer Ericsson Messaging Systems Inc. > -----Original Message----- > From: Rich Nute [SMTP:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 1999 11:04 AM > To: [email protected] > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: WEEE Directive > > > > > Hi Richard: > > > > Are there currently > any > > alternative wire and cable constructions that comply with UL and NEC > flame > > requirements without the use of halogenated flame retardants? > > I believe PVCs are "naturally" flame-retardant materials > i.e., have no flame retardants added to them. > > Many commonly-used wire and cable insulations are PVC. > > > Best regards, > Rich > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > Richard Nute Product Safety Engineer > Hewlett-Packard Company Product Regulations Group > AiO Division Tel : +1 858 655 3329 > 16399 West Bernardo Drive FAX : +1 858 655 4979 > San Diego, California 92127 e-mail: [email protected] > ------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > --------- > This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. > To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] > with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the > quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], > [email protected], [email protected], or > [email protected] (the list administrators). > > --------- This message is coming from the emc-pstc discussion list. To cancel your subscription, send mail to [email protected] with the single line: "unsubscribe emc-pstc" (without the quotes). For help, send mail to [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], or [email protected] (the list administrators).
