CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF PHOSPHORUS/NITROGEN-CONTAINING POLYMER AS A DURABLE FLAME RETARDANT FOR COTTON FABRICS
E. M. OSMAN *
Textile Metrology Lab, Chemical Metrology Division, National Institute of Standards, Egypt
A. A. KHALIL
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt
M. H. EL-SHRBINI
Military Technical College, Cairo, Egypt
L. M. REDA
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt
A. F. SHAABAN
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Benha University, Benha, Egypt
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Phosphorus/nitrogen-containing polymer (PNCP) as a durable flame retardant polymer in stable liquid form was prepared by one pot reaction using triethanol amine (TEA), formaldehyde, urea and phosphoric acid (P). The prepared polymer was applied on cotton fabric samples and characterized using FTIR-ATR. The thermal behavior of the untreated and treated cotton fabric samples were studied using TGA and DSC analysis to investigate the thermal stability. The flammability resistance of the treated samples was studied before and after several washing cycles. Limited oxygen index (LOI) of the untreated and treated cotton fabric samples was also determined .Furthermore, the mechanical properties represented as the tensile strength of the treated cotton fabrics was measured. Moreover the morphology of the burnt fabrics (either untreated or treated) was studied by Scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results revealed that, the increase in either triethanol amine or phosphoric acid leads to, reduction in the flammability of the cotton fabrics, increasing tensile strength and increase in LOI value, consequently enhancing the flammability retardant of the treated fabric samples.
Keywords: Flame retardant, phosphorus/nitrogen-containing polymer, cotton, flammability, durability