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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #268643
Title: Influence of N-P base fiber reactive organophosphorus flame retardant on cotton thermal behavior

Author
item Yoshioka-Tarver, Megumi
item Condon, Brian
item Easson, Michael
item Nam, Sunghyun
item Fortier, Chanel
item Madison, Crista
item Ingber, Bruce

Submitted to: American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists Review
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/21/2012
Publication Date: 9/4/2012
Citation: Yoshioka-Tarver, M., Condon, B.D., Easson, M.W., Nam, S., Fortier, C.A., Madison, C.A., Ingber, B.F. 2012. Influence of N-P base fiber reactive organophosphorus flame retardant on cotton thermal behavior. American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists Review. 12(5):52-59.

Interpretive Summary: The durable finishing system and flame resisitant property of cyanuric chloride-linked organophosphorus has been investigated. The US law requires the flame resistant properties on apparel or house hold items to prevent/minimize the fire damage. Cotton fabrics are flammable and generally require chemical treatment to decrease its flammability. In the development of flame retardant fabrics, many halogenated chemicals have been introduced to treat with cotton fabrics to increase its flame resistance. However, a recent industrial interest of flame retardants is to reduce halogen content in flame retardants due to environmental safety. Our investigation found that the catalytic amount of a halogen atom enhanced its flame resistant property with a small concentration of phosphorus on the fabrics. This investigation can offer smaller amount of chemical treatment on cotton fabrics than customary, but still demonstrate a good flame resistant property.

Technical Abstract: An efficient synergistic effect between a nitrogen-containing organophosphorus compound in the presence of a catalytic amount of chlorine is proposed based on the cyanuric chloride-linked organophosphorus flame retardant, tetraethyl-2,2'-(6-chloro-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diyl)bis(azanediyl)bis(ethane-2,1-diyl) diphosphonate. A finishing procedure for the compound was developed to maintain durable percent add-on and reduced flammability of treated cotton fabrics. The treated fabrics were characterized by limiting oxygen index (LOI), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDAX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), elemental analysis, and vertical flame tests. It was observed that the compound effectively served as a semi-/durable flame retardant system on cotton fabric at substantially lower than usual mass and phosphorus concentration levels when the flame retardant was covalently bonded to cotton. Non-bonded flame retardant, on the other hand, also showed enhanced flame retardant property when 10-48 % chlorine atom per one phosphorus atom was present due to phosphorus-chlorine synergism.