High efficient flame retardant finishing of PET fabric using eco-friendly DOPO

In this paper, 9,10-dihydro-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPO) was used as flame retardant finishing agents for PET fabric and compared with the halogen containing flame retardant DFR. The results showed that the PET fabrics treated by DOPO could achieve the similar excellent flame retardancy and laundering durability with DFR. The LOI values of flame retardant finished PET fabrics reached over 32% for both DOPO and DFR and no changes after subjected to 5 home laundering cycles. DFR could be used together with disperse dyes in one bath while DOPO would influence the dyeing performance which maybe arisen from the high reactive P-H band in DOPO. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to investigate the thermal properties of PET fabrics. Pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) were used to investigate the flame retardant mechanism of the two flame retardants. This research would provide the theoretical basis for the flame retardant finishing of PET fabrics using high efficient DOPO derivatives which could be used as the eco-friendly substitutes for the halogen-containing flame retardants.