| abstract |
Novel brominated styrenic polymers have an ionic bromine content of 2000 ppm or less, and one or more of the following additional characteristics: (a) a TGA temperature for 1 % weight loss which is 340 °C or higher, and a chlorine content, if any, of less than about 700 ppm C1; (b) an actual Mw which is within about 20 % of the calculated theoritical Mw, the theoretical Mw being based upon the actual bromine content of the brominated styrenic polymer and the Mw of the styrenic polymer reactant used to produce the brominated styrenic polymer; and (c) essentially no content of impurities selected from the group consisting of ethylene dichloride, bromodichloroethane, dibromochloroethane, dibromodichloroethane, and tribromochloroethane. Such flame retardant polymers exhibit superior performance qualities during use, especially in thermoplastics such as glass-filled polyesters and glass-filled nylons. |