Synthesis of 2, 3-dibromo-succinic anhydride and application on cotton, polyester and polyester/cotton blended fabric

For a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/cotton blended fabric, a reactive-type flame retardant 2, 3-dibromo-succinic anhydride (DBSA) was used to endow durable flame retardancy via the pad-dry-cure method. DBSA was synthesized via the addition reaction of maleic anhydride and bromine in ethyl acetate solution and extracted by solventing-out crystallization. DBSA was used to finish a cotton fabric firstly with sodium hypophosphite as the catalyst. Thermal behaviors and amount of DBSA that esterified with the cotton was determined. Pyrovatex CP new was applied as a comparison. It was speculated from the thermogravimetric analysis result that esterification of cellulose with DBSA worked similar to phosphate-ester at the initial stage of thermal decomposition. DBSA was also applied to PET and PET/cotton blended fabrics. Flame retardancy, thermal behaviors and durability of the finished fabrics were investigated. Evidence of the condensed phase effect of DBSA was also observed on PET and PET/cotton.