The effect of melamine on the combustion and thermal decomposition behaviour of poly(butylene terephthalate)

Melamine (MA) improves the fire retardant performance of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) as measured by the limiting oxygen index test and the UL94 standard. Thermogravimetric and FT-IR studies revealed that MA promotes the formation of solid decomposition products that mostly consist of the condensation products of MA. As shown by GC/MS, MA affects the development of low and high boiling degradation products. As a result, aromatic nitriles, amides and alkenyl- and cycloalkylenemelamines were identified among the volatiles indicating the occurrence of an interaction between PBT and MA on heating. The fire retardant condensed-phase effect of MA is discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.