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 #279902
Title: Flame retardant antibacterial cotton high-loft nonwoven fabrics

Author
item UPPAL, ROHIT - University Of Tennessee
item BHAT, GAJANAN - University Of Tennessee
item AKATO, KOKOUVI - University Of Tennessee
item Parikh, Dharnidhar
item Nam, Sunghyun
item Condon, Brian

Submitted to: Journal of Industrial Textiles
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/15/2011
Publication Date: 9/14/2011
Citation: Uppal, R., Bhat, G., Akato, K., Parikh, D.V., Nam, S., Condon, B.D. 2011. Flame retardant antibacterial cotton high-loft nonwoven fabrics. Journal of Industrial Textiles. (41)4:281-291.

Interpretive Summary: High-loft nonwoven materials find use as padding under upholstery and in mattresses where antimicrobial and flame resistance are important performance properties. Treatment of cotton fiber with simple well characterized flame retardant chemicals and with antimicrobial nano-silver has yielded fiber which is suitable for incorporation into promising high-loft materials.

Technical 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.