Retardants for films

Flame retardants are added to plastics in order to prevent the outbreak of fire by interrupting or delaying the combustion process, thus reducing the spread of fire and limiting damage to objects and buildings. However, it is also true that some of the substances they are made of release smoke that is excessively dense and toxic.International law is responding by imposing restrictions on substances which may be harmful. At the same time, it is promoting the alternative use of halogen-free substances as additives to a wide range of products such as electronic equipment, textiles, building materials, and furnishings.In compliance with such regulations, the Italian company Viba (located near Varese) has recently developed two halogen-free additives for PE films: Vibatan LDPE 04109 and Vibatan PE 04063.Both products have been designed to make polyolefin industrial films self-extinguishing (those having thickness from 50µ to 500µ). Moreover, such formulations produce greater transparency while also producing smoke of lower density and toxicity compared to traditional halogenated products.