Effect of titanium dioxide on the flame‐retardant finishing of cotton fabric

Abstract

In this study, titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) or nano titanium dioxide (nano-TiO 2 ) was used as a cocatalyst in the flame-retardant (FR) formulation of N-methylol dimethylphosphonopropionamide (Pyrovatex CP New, FR), melamine resin [Knittex CHN, crosslinking agent (CL)], and phosphoric acid (PA) for cotton fabrics to improve the treatment effectiveness and minimize the side effects of the treatment. For FR-treated cotton fabrics, the flame extinguished right after removal of the ignition source with no flame spreading. However, after neutralization and/or home laundering, FR-CL-treated specimens failed the flammability test, whereas the opposite results were obtained from FR-CL-PA-treated specimens. A noticeable result was that the TiO 2 /nano-TiO 2 cocatalyst had a significant effect on decreasing the flame-spread rate. Thermal analysis found that the FR-treated specimens without wet posttreatment showed two endothermic peaks representing the phosphorylation of cellulose and acid-catalyzed dehydration. In addition, the treated fabrics showed some new characteristic peaks in their chemical structures; these were interpreted as carbonyl bands, CH 2 rocking bands, and CH 3 asymmetric and CH 2 symmetric stretching. The surface morphology of the FR-CL-PAtreated cotton specimens showed a roughened and wrinkled fabric surface with a high deposition of the finishing agent that had a lower breaking load and tearing strength, which resulted from the side effects of the CL used. However, the addition of a TiO 2 or nano-TiO 2 cocatalyst could compensate for the reduction in the tensile strength.

An Alternative for the End-of-life Phase of Flame Retardant Textile Products: Degradation of Flame Retardant and Preliminary Settings of Energy Valorization by Gasification

“…The major peaks of the cotton fabric are OH stretching, placed around 3300 cm -1 , CH stretching around 2800 cm -1 , CH2 symmetric stretching near 1400 cm -1 , CH stretching placed around 1300 cm -1 , CO stretching around 1020 cm -1 , and a C−O−C non-symmetric bond placed around 1200 cm -1 . The FR treatment showed new characteristic peaks in the cotton fabric, for instance, carbonyl bands, CH3 asymmetric peaks, CH2 symmetric stretching, and CH2 rocking bands (Lam et al 2011). The cotton sample treated with FR showed a visible C=O peak around 1660 cm -1 .…”

“…The vibration of phosphorus bonding (P=O) usually occurs around 1320 cm -1 to 1140 cm -1 , and is rather difficult to identify. There is often overlap of characteristic peaks and absorption of primary and secondary deformations in the OH group of cotton (Siriviriyanun et al 2008;Lam et al 2011). As aforementioned, it was difficult to identify the dominant FR groups, and similarly, there were no visible changes in the peaks after the Fenton's reaction.…”

“…The FR-treated cotton samples increased the char yields with the phosphates. The lowered decomposition temperature of FR-treated cotton in the presence of the organophosphorus flame retardant species showed its mode of action as a condensed phase flame retardant systems (Langley et al 1980;Lam et al 2011). By comparison, FR-treated cotton samples after Fenton's reaction, showed shift in the DSC curves, suggesting change in decomposition behavior of the FR-treated cotton.…”

Eco –friendly flame retardant via self assembly coating

“…There are different methods to enhance final properties of fibers and fabrics in particular, smart textiles displaying antimicrobial or UV radiation protection [1], dye fastness, wrinkle resistance finishing, superhydrophobicity and photocatalytic properties [2][3][4][5]. At the present time, researchers focus on protecting the textile fabrics from ignition by using zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, phosphoric acid [6][7][8], behind surface modification after-treatments capable of changing or conferring different properties to the investigated textiles. The curing step has to be applied without any effect on the properties of the textile.…”

Advanced microgel-functionalized polyester textiles adaptive to ambient conditions

“…General terms used to describe such textiles are "multi-functional" or "responsive", although appropriate terminology for their description remains an issue. Functionalizing textiles or fibers with chemical modification, for example introducing amine groups or incorporating titanium dioxide particles on cotton (Kim et al 2007;Lam et al 2011), adds new functionalities to the preexisting properties of the textiles, i.e. it renders them multi-functional.…”