Facile fabrication of high-efficiency reactive flame retardant toward cotton fabric with good hand feeling and high fire safety

• Published in: Cellulose (London) 2023-07, Vol.30 (11), p.7313-7328
• Main Authors: Shi, Xiao-Hui, Xie, Wei-Min, Wu, Shi-Jie, Liu, Qing-Yun, De La Vega, Jimena, Wang, De-Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ammonium phosphates; Bioorganic Chemistry; Ceramics; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Cone calorimeters; Cotton; Cotton fabrics; Crystal structure; Fabrics; Fire protection; Fire safety; Flame retardants; Flammability; Glass; Graphitization; Natural Materials; Organic Chemistry; Original Research; Oxygen; Phosphate esters; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; Residues; Smoothness; Softness; Sustainable Development; Textile composites
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-023-05306-5

High flame-retardant efficiency and good hand feeling are particularly critical in the application of cotton fabrics. Herein, a reactive flame retardant (PAzP) with ammonium phosphate ester groups was designed and bonded to cotton fabric through a dip-pad-cure process. The obtained PAzP-treated fabrics exhibited good hand feeling and high fire safety. The finishing process had no essential effect on the crystal structure of cellulose. With 11.8 wt% PAzP bonded, the attributes of the fabric's texture, including resilience, softness, and smoothness, were nearly indistinguishable from those of pristine fabric. Meanwhile, PAzP-treated fabric achieved a LOI value of 33.3% and self-extinguished immediately after removing the igniter in the vertical burning test. The material exhibited outstanding performance in the cone calorimeter test, demonstrating a remarkable decrease in both heat and smoke release, thus indicating its exceptional fire safety properties. The investigation of char residue and decomposed volatiles confirmed that PAzP functioned as a flame retardant by generating graphitized char residues, which limit the propagation of heat and oxygen and curtailed the emission of flammable volatiles in the condensed phase. Additionally, PAzP released a substantial amount of CO 2 , which mitigated the flammable volatiles and oxygen in the gaseous phase. Overall, this study presents a potential strategy for producing cotton fabric that possesses excellent fire safety and comfortable tactile properties.