How does chemical magnesium hydroxide improve the safety performance of wires and cables?
Publish Time: 2025-06-23
As an important inorganic flame retardant additive, chemical magnesium hydroxide is widely used in the field of wire and cable manufacturing, and plays an irreplaceable role in improving the safety performance of wires and cables. Through its unique physical and chemical properties, magnesium hydroxide not only effectively enhances the flame retardancy of cable materials, but also significantly reduces the smoke and toxic gases produced during combustion, thus providing a strong guarantee for the safety of people's lives and property.First of all, chemical magnesium hydroxide has excellent flame retardant properties. When wires and cables encounter high temperatures or fire sources, magnesium hydroxide will release a large amount of water vapor during thermal decomposition. This process absorbs a lot of heat, effectively reduces the temperature around the material, and delays or even prevents the spread of flames. At the same time, the released water vapor can also dilute the oxygen concentration in the air, further inhibiting the occurrence of combustion reactions. This "self-extinguishing" mechanism makes it difficult for cables to become a medium for the spread of fire in a fire environment, greatly improving the safety of the overall system.Secondly, magnesium hydroxide produces almost no harmful gases during combustion, which is a major advantage over traditional halogen flame retardants. Many halogen-containing flame retardant materials release toxic gases such as hydrogen chloride and dioxins at high temperatures, which not only pose a serious threat to human health, but also cause secondary pollution to the environment. Magnesium hydroxide is mainly composed of magnesium and water. During the decomposition process, it only generates magnesium oxide and water vapor, and does not release any toxic gases or corrosive substances. This environmentally friendly feature makes it particularly suitable for places with high requirements for air quality, such as subways, hospitals, schools and other densely populated areas, which wins precious time for emergency evacuation and rescue.Furthermore, magnesium hydroxide has a good smoke suppression effect. In a fire, thick smoke is often one of the main causes of casualties. When magnesium hydroxide is decomposed by heat, it can not only slow down the combustion speed, but also effectively reduce the amount of smoke generated, improve the visibility of the fire scene, facilitate personnel to escape quickly and reduce the difficulty of fire rescue. In addition, the residual magnesium oxide layer formed by magnesium hydroxide also has a certain heat insulation effect, which can protect the internal structure of the cable from further damage to a certain extent and maintain the power transmission function for a certain period of time, which is particularly important for some key facilities such as emergency lighting systems and fire pump power supplies.In addition, magnesium hydroxide also has good thermal stability and weather resistance, and can maintain stable performance over a wide temperature range. This allows cable materials with magnesium hydroxide to maintain excellent flame retardant properties even during long-term use, and is not easily invalidated due to aging or environmental changes. Especially in high temperature environments, magnesium hydroxide can still play its due protective role to ensure the safe operation of cables under extreme conditions.In addition, as people pay more and more attention to environmental protection and sustainable development, magnesium hydroxide, as a green flame retardant material, is also becoming increasingly popular. It is halogen-free and environmentally friendly, in line with the current global development trend for low-toxic, low-smoke, and green environmentally friendly materials. More and more cable manufacturers are beginning to use magnesium hydroxide as a core flame retardant component to meet the increasingly stringent fire safety regulations and the market's dual needs for high-performance environmentally friendly products.It is worth mentioning that the surface modification technology of magnesium hydroxide is also constantly improving, further improving its dispersibility and compatibility in the polymer matrix. Magnesium hydroxide with a high degree of surface treatment can be more evenly distributed in common cable sheath materials such as PVC and polyolefins, which not only improves processing efficiency, but also avoids the problem of mechanical performance degradation caused by filler agglomeration. This optimized composite material can not only ensure good mechanical properties, but also take into account flame retardancy and safety requirements, achieving the unity of functionality and practicality.In summary, chemical magnesium hydroxide has demonstrated strong technical value in improving the safety performance of wires and cables with its excellent flame retardancy, low-smoke and non-toxic combustion characteristics, excellent thermal stability and environmental protection advantages. It not only reduces the risk of fire from the source, but also provides solid support for building a safer and more environmentally friendly electrical system. With the continuous development of new material technology, the application prospects of magnesium hydroxide in the field of wires and cables and other polymer materials will be broader, injecting new impetus into the safety and green development of modern industry.
