Development of novel flame retardants for cellulosic fabrics

Despite their widespread use, the low fire resistance of cotton fabrics brings up serious concerns. In this study, to improve the cotton fabrics burning behaviour zinc borate, phosphor based chemicals and flame retardant chemicals were used. Particle size of zinc borate and phosphorus based chemicals were decreased to submicron scale by attrition milling and planetary mill. All chemicals were applied to cotton fabrics by padding. SEM was used for characterization of chemicals and surface analyses of fabrics. Thermal analysis of chemicals and treated cotton fabrics were performed by TG/DTA. FTIR/ATR also was used for surface analyses of treated fabrics. Spectrophotometer was used to determine colour change of fabrics. Burning performance of treated cotton fabrics was tested by using Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) and vertical burning test methods. In this thesis materials that increase the flame retardancy of the cotton fabrics were developed. The decrease in flammability of cotton fabrics were apparent due to the LOI, vertical flammability and thermal characterization test results which are in good agreement.