Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #310426
Title: The mechanism of action of piperazine-phosphonates derivatives in cotton fabric

Author
item Nguyen, Monique
item Chang, Sechin
item Condon, Brian

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/21/2014
Publication Date: 4/2/2014
Citation: Nguyen, T.D., Chang, S., Condon, B.D. 2014. The mechanism of action of piperazine-phosphonates derivatives in cotton fabric. Proceedings of the National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 1021-1024.

Interpretive Summary: We know that flame retardants interfere with heat, fuel and oxygen which initiate and support combustion. It is well known that phosphorus compounds form char and nitrogen compounds produce nitrogen containing gases to dilute the oxygen and flammable gases in cellulose. Moreover, the flame retardant action of nitrogen enhances the flame-retardant action of phosphorus. To better understand the mechanisms of these elements we prepared two structurally related phosphorus-nitrogen containing compounds and investigated the degradation of cotton fabric treated with each under the intense heat. These are the findings: a) The phosphorus moiety proceeds by way of forming phosphoric acid which eventually promotes the formation of char b) The nitrogen moiety breaks down further into nitrogen containing gases c) Between the two compounds, the one with more phosphorus provides more phosphoric acid which yields more char residue These findings help us better develop a phosphorus-nitrogen containing compound that meets the needs of even their most unique and demanding applications.

Technical Abstract: Piperazine-phosphonates additives are known to be very effective flame retardants on different polymeric systems, especially cotton cellulose. In order to understand their mechanism of action, we carried out the investigation of their thermal behavior on cotton fabric by, first, employing the attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy to characterize the treated fabrics; second, we used the thermogravimetric analysis-fourier transform infrared (TGA-FTIR) to study the evolved gases produced thermally; and finally, we utilized the pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) to detect the species formed during pyrolysis. The experiment’s results showed some distinctive details in the thermal degradation of the fabric when applied with these additives.