Sustainable flame retardant treatment for cotton fabric using non formaldehyde cross linking agent

Saima Brohi; Ariba Shaikh; Iqra Jameel; Muhammad Hamza; Anam Ali Memon; Iftikhar Ali Sahito; Naveed Mengal

doi:10.22581/muet1982.2301.06

Saima Brohi Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Ariba Shaikh Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Iqra Jameel Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Muhammad Hamza Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Anam Ali Memon Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Iftikhar Ali Sahito Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan
Naveed Mengal Department of Textile Engineering, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro – 76060 Sindh Pakistan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22581/muet1982.2301.06

Abstract

Most flame-retardant finishing agents have been found to have an adverse effect on our environment and human skin because of the carcinogenic chemicals in their structure. Pyrovatex CP New is an Organophosphorus based flame retardant (FR) agent widely used in FR treatment of combustible. However, the main problem related to it is the release of high formaldehyde content (a known carcinogen). When used with methylated melamine (MM) an effective cross-linker. The objective of this research was to use citric acid (CA) and its integration with sodium hypophosphite (NaH2PO2) and two different co-catalyst Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and phosphoric acid (PA) as a flame‐retardant finishing for cotton fabrics. The flammability of cotton fabric was assessed by a manual vertical flammability test, it is found that the combination of co-catalysts in FR formulation lowers the flammability of cotton. The pyrolysis characteristics and char residue yield of the treated cotton shows that the flame retardancy improves as the amount of catalyst is increased. The whiteness index, crease recovery and tensile strength of the treated cotton fabric was also significantly improved with our suggested recipe formulation. The finished cotton has significant variations in terms of its tensile strength, crease recovery, and whiteness index.