Although a wide range of chemicals have found use as fire retardants over the years, many are facing increasing scrutiny either because of their inherent toxicity or their negative impacts in the environment. In view of a clear industrial demand for safer, more effective fire retardants, ITRI commenced its work on the development of novel tin-based additives during the mid-1980s.
This innovative research directly led to the commercial introduction of two specific tin-based fire retardants – zinc hydroxystannate (ZHS) and zinc stannate (ZS) – and evaluation trials at ITRI and elsewhere demonstrated their effectiveness both as flame retardants and smoke suppressants in a wide range of polymers.