Formaldehyde-free and halogen-free flame retardant finishing on cotton fabric

Abstract

This study focuses on the application of environmental-friendly flame retardant (FR) finishing which does not include formaldehyde or halogen based chemicals on cotton fabrics since it has been announced that these kinds of materials have environmental and toxicological hazards. Three different types of FR agents were used in the finishing bath and applied on raw, pre-treated and dyed cotton fabrics, respectively. One of them was the mixture of inorganic and organic salts while the other type was chosen as phosphate structured which have a commercial use in textile industry widely in order to compare the flame retardant effects on cotton. The third type was calcium carbonate based chemical produced in Balikesir Turkey named Firetex. After finishing treatment of all types of FRs, performance tests as burning tests and color spectrums were carried out beside the characterization tests as SEM and FTIR-ATR analysis. In order to determine the washing durability of the cotton fabrics, each performance test was performed after 5 repeated washing cycle. According to the results, it was observed that both three types of flame retardant agents improved the flame retardant effect of cotton fabrics however the char length of cotton fabric which treated with Firetex was lower than the rest and it was indicated in the study that using natural structured FR could be a new area in green chemistry as a FR textile chemical.