After spending many years investigating char formation as a
means to enhance thermal and fire stability of polymers, the
group is now beginning to think that condensed phase processes
alone are not sufficient and that we need to combine either
nanocomposite formation or Friedel-Crafts cross-linking with the
use of conventional vapor phase fire retardants, likely
phosphorus compounds, in order to develop the most efficacious
systems. This requires that one make multiple combinations of
conventional fire retardants with condensed phase systems in
order to determine the ideal combination and this has led us to
the use of high-throughput techniques, otherwise known as
combinatorial chemistry, in order to more efficiently study the
systems. The Building and Fire Research Laboratory, BFRL, at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, has been a
leader in this regard and you are referred to the BFRL web page
for information on their approach. Our approach is to prepare a
collection of samples, the li