Flame Retardancy Enhancement of Jute Fabric Using Chemical Treatment

Abstract

This work aims to improve the flame retardancy of jute fabric. Raw and bleached plain weave jute fabric was used in this work. Flame retardants borax, diammonium phosphate and thiourea were applied in different concentrations in a raw and bleached jute fabric with the padding method. The influences of flame retardant finishing on the vertical flammability behaviour and tensile properties as well as wash resistance were inves¬tigated. Flame spread time was found to significantly increase when these simple flame retardant finishing agents were used. It was found that the borax-treated raw and bleached specimens exhibited higher flame spread time among all. The assessment of physical properties such as weight gain percentage and breaking load along warp and weft direction of the control and treated fabrics revealed that the increase of flame retardant finishing weight gain caused a decrease in breaking load. Furthermore, the specimens treated with borax and diammonium phosphate flame retardant showed better results than thiourea for flame retardancy and wash durability. These flame retardant jute fabrics have industrial protective textile applications as brattice cloth in mines and many other potential fields of application, e.g. flame retardant kitchen apron, furnishings for public hall, theatre and hospital, etc.