#hot_papers #Moscow #chemistry

🔥 Adding MORE fire retardant actually made this coating WORSE.

Here's the plot twist scientists from Moscow State University (Department of Chemistry) just uncovered:

Epoxy coatings are designed to swell up in a fire, creating a protective "char" shield for steel. They usually contain organobromine compounds — powerful flame killers.

But chemists @chemistryofmsu found that bromine is a double agent.

🟢 Low dose (12.5%): Perfect. The material becomes self-extinguishing.
🔴 High dose (50%+): Disaster. The bromine messes up the chemistry, creating a shoddy, uneven char that offers less protection.

The study was published in Polymers (IF = 4.9)

🔗 Read the paper