Use of huntite and hydromagnesite mineral in plastic materials as a flame retardant

In this study, flame retardancy properties of huntite/hydromagnesite mineral in plastic compounds were investigated for electrical applications. Prior to production of composite materials, huntite/hydromagnesite mineral was ground at particle sizes of 10 ?m, 1 ?m and 0.1 ?m. The ground minerals with different particle size and content levels were added to the plastic compounds to produce composite materials. After fabrication of huntite/hydromagnesite reinforced plastic composite samples, they were characterized by using DTA-TG, FTIR, XRD and SEM-EDS. Mechanical and electrical properties of the composites were also evaluated through tensile testing, hardness, multimeter and empedance machines. In addition, flame retardancy test were performed as a main objective of this research. By this way the effect of size distribution of the additives and the effect of the concent levels of the additives in the plastic compounds by means of flame retardancy are measured with this regard. It was concluded that flame retardant properties of plastic composites were improved depending on particle size and particle content of huntite/hydromagnesite minerals.