Rapid growth of e-mobility requires specific flame retardant materials to ensure safety with batteries and high voltages.
Sebastian Hörold, Clariant, outlined potentials and challenges for PIN flame retardant plastics in electric vehicles. Power battery prices are falling continuously, and are now ten times lower than ten years ago, offering e-vehicle ranges of around 600 km. However, this stored electrical energy and high-voltage charging and drive transmission pose fire safety challenges.
Properties such as UL94-V0 (increasingly down to 0.4 mm and after ageing), laser marking and welding, low blooming and no mould deposits are required in e-vehicle materials as in current vehicle performance applications. PIN FR polymers can already achieve this. New requirements for e-vehicles include however electrical performance (CTI 600V and higher), low hydrolysis and no acid / halogen leaching.
Phosphorus PIN FRs in polyamides demonstrate high performance, good colour (e.g. e-vehicle high voltage safety orange), and new tests show that fire performance UL94, afterburn and CTI are maintained after heat and humidity ageing. Trials also show that PFR polyamide can offer better laser transparency than bromine – antimony polyamide.
https://www.clariant.com/en/Business-Units/Additives/Flame-Retardants