Flame retardant antibacterial cotton high-loft nonwoven fabrics

Abstract

Flame retardant treated gray cotton fibers were blended with antibacterial treated gray cotton fibers and polyester/polyester sheath/core bicomponent fibers to form high-loft fabrics. The high flame retardancy (FR) and antibacterial property of these high lofts were evaluated by limiting oxygen index, vertical flame testing, and antimicrobial tests against S. aureus (ATCC 6538), a Gram-positive bacterium, and K. pneumonia (ATCC 4352), a Gram-negative bacterium. The blended high-loft nonwoven fabrics, apart from the control blend number 5, had high LOI values greater than 24.7. Samples should have a higher LOI value than the threshold value of 20.95. All the blended high-loft nonwoven fabrics passed the vertical flame test and the char length increased with the decrease in the proportion of the SRRC FR cotton in the blends. The blended high-loft nonwoven fabrics were effective in reducing the bacteria by 99.9% for both types of bacteria tested. FR gray cotton fiber obtained from the treatment of SRRC 2 formulation (blend number 4) also showed good antibacterial properties.