In recent years, the development of polymer synthetic materials is very rapid. In 2002, the plastic output will exceed 8 million tons, and the annual consumption of plastic flame retardants will reach more than 600000 tons, of which 50% are inorganic flame retardants, 30% are magnesium hydroxide flame retardants, and 90000 tons are needed annually. At present, the annual production capacity of magnesium hydroxide flame retardant in China is about 13000 tons.

It is understood that synthetic materials have been widely used in the fields of transportation, transportation, construction, electronics, electricity, chemical industry, etc., and play a huge role in the national economic construction. But synthetic materials are generally flammable, in order to solve and eliminate this hidden danger, flame retardant came into being. Inorganic flame retardants have been widely used in synthetic materials because they not only have the effect of flame retardancy, but also have the effect of inhibiting smoke and hydrogen chloride formation, and give materials non-toxic and non corrosive. Magnesium hydroxide is a kind of additive inorganic flame retardant. Compared with the same inorganic flame retardant, it has better smoke suppression effect. Because 80% of the fire died from smoke suffocation, "smoke suppression" is more important than "flame retardant" in modern flame retardant technology. Magnesium hydroxide is a kind of environmental friendly green flame retardant, which has no harmful substance emission in the process of production, use and waste, and can produce acid and corrosive gas in the process of combustion. The thermal decomposition temperature of magnesium hydroxide is high, 140 ℃ higher than that of the inorganic flame retardant aluminum hydroxide, which can make the synthetic material of magnesium hydroxide bear higher processing temperature, accelerate the extrusion speed, shorten the molding time and improve the flame retardant efficiency. Magnesium hydroxide has the advantages of fine particle size, small wear to equipment, and can be used to extend the service life of processing equipment. At the same time, the raw materials are easy to obtain and the production cost is low. It can be widely used in the fields of polypropylene, polyethylene, PVC, high impact polystyrene and ABS.

With the rapid development of China's synthetic polymer industry and the continuous improvement of fire-retardant laws and regulations, the demand for flame retardants is increasing. As a non-toxic and smoke suppressive environmental inorganic flame retardant, magnesium hydroxide is in urgent need. China is also a big country in magnesium resources, with unique resource advantages and good market prospects. However, compared with the advanced level of foreign countries, the production of magnesium hydroxide in China is small in scale, small in variety and low in technology level, so it is urgent to improve the overall level of the industry. Therefore, China should improve the existing production process, scale production, and strengthen the production and development of magnesium hydroxide flame retardant, to meet the rapid development of China's plastic industry demand, and speed up the adjustment of flame retardant industrial product structure.