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Durable flame retardant cellulosic fibers modified with novel, facile and efficient phytic acid-based finishing agent

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Abstract

As a renewable, abundant, and eco-friendly bio-based compound, phytic acid (PA) possesses high phosphorus content, which is a potential flame retardant for cellulosic fibers. Generally, PA is not efficient for cellulosic fibers due to strong acidity that results in greatly reduced strength and lack of soft hand. As proved elsewhere, the compounds with phosphorous and nitrogen was reported to be an efficient flame retardant and exhibited synergistic effect for cellulosic fibers. Therefore, PA was firstly reacted with urea to synthesize a novel green flame retardant containing a high level of phosphorus and nitrogen elements, i.e., phytic acid ammonium, then it was employed for lyocell fibers through pad-dry-cure finishing process. As expected, flame retardancy and durability of finished lyocell fabrics were considerably improved, as evidenced by an increase of limiting oxygen index value up to 39.2% and still 29.7% after 30 laundering cycles. TG–MS and TG–FTIR coupled techniques demonstrate that the formation of carbonaceous residue and non-combustion gases preferably generated during thermal pyrolysis process of finished lyocell fibers.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very thankful for the support provided by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFB0309000).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Xiao-hui Liu, Qiu-yan Zhang, Bo-wen Cheng, Yan-guang Zhang & Chen Ding

  2. School of Textiles, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin, 300387, China

    Bo-wen Cheng & Yuan-lin Ren

Authors
  1. Xiao-hui Liu
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  2. Qiu-yan Zhang
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  3. Bo-wen Cheng
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  4. Yuan-lin Ren
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  5. Yan-guang Zhang
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  6. Chen Ding
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Correspondence to Xiao-hui Liu or Yuan-lin Ren.

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Liu, Xh., Zhang, Qy., Cheng, Bw. et al. Durable flame retardant cellulosic fibers modified with novel, facile and efficient phytic acid-based finishing agent. Cellulose 25, 799–811 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1550-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1550-0

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