What are flame retardants?
Any additive, coating or penetrant which prohibits the substrate from supporting a flame. They are sometimes referred to as fire retardants which is somewhat of a misnomer. They are designed to prevent a flame from becoming a fire. If it is already a fully involved fire when it hits the flame retardant at best it will slow the fire down which is also good when considering that time is one of the most critical factors. This is why flame retardants are classified by flame spread ratings and not by fire resistance rating such as the (ASTM E119) 3 hour Fire Resistance Rating or the (UL1709) 2 hour Fire Resistance Rating provided by OMEGA FIRE (SP 2001 F) ®. SUPERTHERM ® Flamespread Asphalt Shingle Video Clip (1.2mb) has a ” 0 ” Flamespread Rating and ” 0 ” Smoke Developed Rating even though it’s primary function is to act as an R19 effective thermal insulation at only 10/1000″ thickness. Flame retardants are like fire stop systems, monitered fire alarms and automatic fire sprinklers, provi
