Zinc Ferrite as an Eco-friendly Synergist for Decabromodiphenyl Ethane in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: an Effective Alternative to Antimony Trioxide for Enhanced Flame Retardancy

Ge-Hao Guo; Miao-Miao Tian; Meng-Yuan Zheng; Qing-Hua Peng; Xiang Tan; Chang-Hui Luo; Jun Sun; Xiao-Yu Gu; Hong-Fei Li; Sheng Zhang

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3737-z

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Zinc Ferrite as an Eco-friendly Synergist for Decabromodiphenyl Ethane in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: an Effective Alternative to Antimony Trioxide for Enhanced Flame Retardancy

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-07-22

- Zinc Ferrite as an Eco-friendly Synergist for Decabromodiphenyl Ethane in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: an Effective Alternative to Antimony Trioxide for Enhanced Flame Retardancy
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-12(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
  b.College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
  c.Beijing Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Polymer Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China
- Author bio：
  
  sunj@mail.buct.edu.cn (J.S.)
  zhangsheng@mail.buct.edu.cn (S.Z.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3737-z
  CLC：
- Received：13 April 2026，
  
  Accepted：05 May 2026，
  
  Online First：22 July 2026，
  
  Published：2026-06
- Accepted：
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Guo, G. H.; Tian, M. M.; Zheng, M. Y.; Peng, Q. H.; Tan, X.; Luo, C. H.; Sun, J.; Gu, X. Y.; Li, H. F.; Zhang, S. Zinc ferrite as an eco-friendly synergist for decabromodiphenyl ethane in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene: an effective alternative to antimony trioxide for enhanced flame retardancy. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3737-z

Ge-Hao Guo, Miao-Miao Tian, Meng-Yuan Zheng, et al. Zinc Ferrite as an Eco-friendly Synergist for Decabromodiphenyl Ethane in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: an Effective Alternative to Antimony Trioxide for Enhanced Flame Retardancy[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-12.
Guo, G. H.; Tian, M. M.; Zheng, M. Y.; Peng, Q. H.; Tan, X.; Luo, C. H.; Sun, J.; Gu, X. Y.; Li, H. F.; Zhang, S. Zinc ferrite as an eco-friendly synergist for decabromodiphenyl ethane in acrylonitrile butadiene styrene: an effective alternative to antimony trioxide for enhanced flame retardancy. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3737-z DOI：

Ge-Hao Guo, Miao-Miao Tian, Meng-Yuan Zheng, et al. Zinc Ferrite as an Eco-friendly Synergist for Decabromodiphenyl Ethane in Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene: an Effective Alternative to Antimony Trioxide for Enhanced Flame Retardancy[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-12. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3737-z.

摘要

Abstract

Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) is widely used owing to its excellent mechanical properties

thermal stability

and processability; however

its poor inherent flame retardancy limits its applications

which require higher safety. Conventional flame-retardant ABS systems mainly rely on a bromine-antimony synergistic system

in which antimony trioxide (ATO) is costly and environmentally concerning. In this study

decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) and ATO were first selected as the flame-retardant systems and combined at a mass ratio of 3:1. The results showed that the ABS/12DBDPE/4ATO composite ac

hieved a UL-94 V-0 rating with a limiting oxygen index (LOI) of 24.0%. Subsequently

zinc ferrite (ZF) nanoparticles were synthesized

via

a co-precipitation method and employed as partial substitutes for ATO in ABS composites. When 50 wt% ATO was replaced by ZF

the ABS/12DBDPE/2ATO/2ZF composite exhibited an increased LOI value of 26.9%

while still achieving a UL-94 V-0 rating. Compared with neat ABS

the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) were reduced by 62.1% and 46.3%

respectively. Furthermore

incorporating 5 wt% nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) significantly improved the toughness of the composite

increasing the impact strength from 3.8 kJ/m

to 13.2 kJ/m

without compromising flame retardancy. Overall

this study demonstrates an effective and practical strategy to reduce ATO usage while simultaneously enhancing the fire safety and mechanical performance of ABS.

关键词

Keywords

references

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