A fire, be it caused intentionally or unintentionally, leads to economic loss and physical damage, and requires digestion. The number of fires is increasing yearly, and electrical fires account for more than 30% among the main causes of fires. Electric wires that catch fire typically employ silicone coatings; silicone has organic as well as inorganic properties. Silicon is a natural, nonexistent, synthetic product with numerous applications. In this study, a silicon rubber for application in wires was prepared by high-temperature vulcanization (HTV) with a Shore A hardness of 70. We report results for the flame retardancy test and the fire safety characteristics via inorganic analysis. For this, a quartz inorganic material was added to the wire specimen, and 18% powdered extinguishing agent ammonium phosphate and expanded vermiculite respectively. Thus, expanded vermiculite showed the best flame retardancy and fire safety characteristics.
In this study, a high-temperature vulcanizing (HTV) method was used to achieve a shore a hardness of 70. The basic base was composed of 60% silicon gum (GUM) which is a high-viscosity polymer, 30% fumed silica (FS), and 5% of plasticizer. The GUM and FS were mixed well with less than 1% silane to improve rubber strength. Expanded vermiculite was added as a filler at 10%, 15%, and 20%. The curing conditions were 170℃ for 10 min and a molding method was applied. We report herein, the results of inorganic analysis and flame-retardant and tracking tests on the expanded vermiculite. The flame retardance and tracking test outcomes for a shore a hardness of 70 were found to be optimal when the expanded vermiculite content was 10%.