Developing Formaldehyde Free Flame Retardant for Cellulose

Sammanfattning: Two organophosphorus compounds, namely diethyloxymethyl-9-oxa-10- phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPAC) and diethyl (2,2-diethoxyethyl) phosphonate (DPAC) were applied on cotton cellulose to impart non-carcinogenic and durable (in alkaline washing) flame retardant property to it. Some acidic catalysts, sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4), ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH4H2PO4) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4), were successfully used to settle acetal linkage between cellulose and flame retardant (FR) compound. Appreciable limiting oxygen index (LOI) values of 24% and 23.9% were achieved in case of the samples treated with FR compound DPAC along with the combined acidic catalyzing effect of NaH2PO4+H3PO4 and NaH2PO4+NH4H2PO4. A distinguishing outcome of total heat of combustion (THC) 3.27 KJ/g was revealed during pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) test of the treated sample. In respect of thermal degradation, low temperature dehydration in conjugation with sufficient amount of char residue (30.5%) was obtained in case of DOPAC treated sample. Consistently, the temperature of peak heat release rate (TPHRR) (325°C) of DPAC treated sample supported the expected low temperature pyrolysis in condensed phase mechanism. Subsequent thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also reported inspiring weight retention% of the treated samples. Furthermore, for both of the flame retardant compounds, effect of different catalysts, considering both individual and combined, effect of solvents, and overall the optimization of the process parameters were studied in detail.