ABSTRACT

Polymer materials have shown extensive applications in human daily lives, due to their fascinating performances. Nevertheless, their inherently high flammability severely compromises their widespread use. Thus, it is essential to reduce the fire hazard of polymers. Silicon-containing flame retardants always play an important role in the flame retardation of polymer materials, owing to the effective flame retardant function of the silicon element. The incorporation of silicon-containing flame retardants could significantly reduce the fire hazard of polymers (considerable heat and toxic volatiles release). Four types of silicon-containing flame retardants (silicone, silica, organosilane, and silicate) are introduced in this chapter. Also, their combinations with other flame retardants are proposed, for achieving the synergism flame retardant effect. The fundamental flame retardant mechanisms and experimental analytical techniques are described to understand the relationship between structures and flame retardant performance. To sum up, using silicon-containing flame retardants can endow polymer systems with higher fire safety and it is worth it to develop new kinds of silicon-containing flame retardants.