The need for flame retardancy in consumer goods is apparent. Each year there are over a million fires in the U.S. alone, resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries and billions of dollars in damage. Addition of a flame retardant to items found within building structures or vehicles can help to both slow the rate of burning and suppress the smoke created from the fire.
Phosphate esters are a halogen-free alternative flame retardant and also have the added bonus of acting as a plasticizer in plastic formulations. As a flame retardant, organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) bring the advantage of low smoke, low toxicity, low corrosion and no molten dripping during fire 1. Phosphate esters, such as Tributyl Phosphate (TBP), Tris-(2-Ethylhexyl) phosphate (TOF), and tris (2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBEP), are idea for applications such as artificial leather for applications such as motorcyclist jackets, flight or automotive upholstery leathers where both flame retardance and halogen-free formulation are preferred. But these OPFRs are also used to plasticizer various other material and are compatible with unsaturated polyester resins, cellulose acetate, polyvinylchloride, acrylonitrile-butadienestyrene, synthetic rubber, floor wax, and rubber.