Fire behavior of pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes and bonded materials

Pressure-sensitive adhesive tapes are used in several industrial applications such as construction, railway vehicles and the automotive sector, where the burning behavior is of crucial importance. Flame retarded adhesive tapes are developed and provided, however, often without considering the interaction of adhesive tapes and the bonded materials during burning nor the contribution of the tapes to fire protection goal of the bonded components in distinct fire tests. This publication delivers an empirical comprehensive knowledge how adhesive tapes and their flame retardancy effect the burning behavior of bonded materials. With a special focus on the interaction between the single components, one flame retarded tape and one tape without flame retardant are examined in scenarios of emerging and developing fires, along with their bonds with the common materials wood, zinc-plated steel, mineral wool, polycarbonate, and polymethylmethacrylate. The flame retardant significantly improved the flame retardancy of the tape as a free-standing object and yielded a V-2 rating in UL 94 vertical test and raised the Oxygen Index by 5 vol.%. In bonds, or rather laminates, the investigations prove that the choice of carrier and substrates are the factors with the greatest impact on the fire properties and can change the peak of heat release rate and the maximum average rate of heat emission up to 25%. This research yielded a good empirical overall understanding of the fire behavior of adhesive tapes and bonded materials. Thus, it serves as a guide for tape manufacturers and applicants to develop tapes and bonds more substrate specific.