Development of flame retardant materials to be back-coated on polypropylene textiles

Polypropylene; despite its widespread technical end uses in textile products, has high flammability. In this study the flammability of polypropylene was reduced and brought to acceptable, safe level by environment-friendly, non-toxic materials. The effect of phosphorus based flame retardant that was added to the polymer melt, on the combustion mechanism and flammability of the polymers was studied and its synergy with zinc borate and metal hydroxides was investigated. The thermal behavior and flame resistance of polypropylene doped by materials with reduced particle size were determined by TG analysis and LOI, UL-94 tests. The materials were characterized by FTIR and SEM analysis. MPP, MDH/ATH and ZnB which present different flame retardant activities in various steps of combustion mechanism were concluded to increase the LOI value and thus flame resistance of polypropylene.