Effect of zinc oxide on flame retardant finishing of plasma pre-treated cotton fabric

Abstract

An organic phosphorus compound (flame retardant agent, FR) in combination with a melamine resin (crosslinking agent, CL), phosphoric acid (catalyst, PA) and zinc oxide (co-catalyst, ZnO/ nano-ZnO) imparted effective and durable flame retardant properties. Also, atmospheric pressure plasma jet was applied as pre-treatment to improve post-finishing (flame retardant finishing) on cotton fabrics. In the present paper, surface morphology, chemical structure analysis, combustibility and mechanical properties of plasma pre-treated cotton fabrics subjected to flame-retardant treatment were investigated. Surface morphology of treated cotton specimens showed roughened and wrinkled fabric surface with high deposition of the flame retardant finishing agent, which was caused by the plasma etching effect and attack of acidic FR. The FTIR-ATR spectra for the treated cotton specimens showed some new characteristic peaks in chemical structure, interpreted as carbonyl bands, OH stretching vibration, COO -stretching vibration, CH 2 rocking band and CH 3 asymmetric and CH 2 symmetric stretching. Moreover, FR-CL-PA-treated specimens showed remarkable flame-retardant property, which was further improved by the plasma pre-treatment and ZnO/ nano-ZnO co-catalyst. However, flame-retardanttreated cotton specimens had poor mechanical strength when compared with control sample, resulting from side effects of the crosslinking agent used, while plasma pre-treatment and ZnO/nano-ZnO co-catalyst may compensate for the reduction in tensile and tearing strength caused by flame-retardant agents.

Zinc Oxide for Functional Textile Coatings: Recent Advances

“…The extraordinary photocatalytic activity, chemical stability under UV radiation exposure, thermal stability, and absorption of a broad range of UV radiation [2][3][4] allow ZnO particles (ZnO Ps) to be one of the most effective photocatalytic self-cleaning, antimicrobial and UV-protective agents. Furthermore, ZnO Ps have been applied to textile fibers to improve flame retardancy and thermal stability and to achieve moisture management and thermal insulation, electrical conductivity, and hydrophobicity [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. The photocatalytic properties also enable ZnO Ps to be used as degradation agents for different pollutants, such as dyes and surfactants present in textile industry wastewaters [12,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Low Stress Mechanical Properties of Plasma-Treated Cotton Fabric Subjected to Zinc Oxide-Anti-Microbial Treatment

“…Hence, the quest for efficient, non-toxic, durable and cost-effective antimicrobial finishing of textile materials is becoming increasingly intense, resulting in progressive expansion of the production of anti-microbial textile materials [2,4]. In previous researches [5,6], cotton fabric samples were coated with Microfresh Liquid Formulation 9200-200 and Microban Liquid Formulation R10800-0 (MF-MB anti-microbial formulation) to impart anti-microbial properties. It was proved that the addition of zinc oxide (ZnO) as a catalyst can further enhance the anti-microbial properties.…”

Assembly of transition metal ion on cellulose surface anchored with azo-Schiff base and its catalytic activity for H2O2 decomposition

“…Cellulose is one of the natural biomaterials, which is an excellent catalyst-supported materials [13,18,19]. Cellulose fiber has been explored as a substrate for composite materials because of the presence of functional groups that may be employed in various activation processes.…”