During the combustion of polymeric materials, plenty of heat, smoke, and toxic gases are produced that may cause serious harm to human health. Although the flame retardants such as halogen- and phosphorus-containing compounds can inhibit combustion, they cannot effectively reduce the release of toxic fumes. Zinc hydroxystannate (ZHS, ZnSn(OH)6) is an environmentally friendly flame retardant that has attracted extensive interest because of its high efficiency, safety, and smoke suppression properties. However, using ZHS itself may not contribute to the optimal flame retardant effect, which is commonly combined with other flame retardants to achieve more significant efficiency. Few articles systematically review the recent development of ZHS in the fire safety field. This review aims to deliver an insight towards further direction and advancement of ZHS in flame retardant and smoke suppression for multiple polymer blends. In addition, the fire retarded and smoke suppression mechanism of ZHS will be demonstrated and discussed in depth.
Keywords: flame retardant; polymer composites; smoke suppression; zinc hydroxystannate.