Flame Retardant Compositions for Textiles and Treated Textiles

This invention relates to flame retardant compositions for treatment of textiles and textile products in situ, examples of such products being clothing, furnishings and industrial fabrics. For instance, woven and knitted constructions of cotton, viscose, rayon, synthetics such as polyester, natural/synthetic blends and wool may all be successfully treated by the compositions of this invention.

Flame retardant treatment of textiles using soluble salts, especially ammonium compounds, is well known. The commercial mixtures employed are usually for use on either natural fibres or sythetic fibres, the composition of the mixture varying according to the nature of the fibre. This entails knowledge or judgement of the type of fibre for treatment and selection of an appropriate flame retardant product.

It is an object of this invention to provide an optimum formulation which may meet the requirements for treatment of various fabrics and mixtures already made-up into products where treatment conditions differ from those of bulk processing before make-up of the articles.

According to this invention there is provided a flame retardant composition for in situ treatment of textiles or textile products comprising in admixture:

(a) an ammonium salt or mixture of ammonium salts having flame retardant properties,

(b) a water-soluble amide decomposing at a temperature of 100.degree. C. to 200.degree. C. to give ammonia, and

(c) aqueous acid in a concentration insufficient to cause degradation of a fabric by the composition when applied thereto, the pH of the composition preferably being 3 to 4.5.

The component (b) acts as an anti-scorch agent. When cellulose products, e.g. cotton, are dried at temperatures greater than 130.degree. C. (especially in the pressure of suitable ammonium salts) scorching can occur. This arises from the action of strong acids liberated from ammonium salts at elevated temperatures. The pressure of component (b) which acts as a sink for ammonia at such temperatures retards the extent of formation of the strong acids.

The invention provides a composition based upon the said ammonium salt(s), the said water-soluble amide, the said aqueous acid, which composition can be used for natural, regenerated and synthetic fibres and their blends without need to identify fibre type. This is particularly important when offering products for in situ or consumer treatment, when the user may not have the knowledge or expertise to define the nature of the fibre.

With this invention adjustment of the pH of the composition can be made to suit requirements. In commercial processing penetration and adherence to synthetic fibres are achieved by pressure impregnation or drying at above ambient temperatures, both of which operations help to locate the retardant salts especially on synthetic fibres. These facilities are not available for in situ treatments where drying at ambient temperatures would normally lead to selective drying and absorption of the salts on natural components of a natural/synthetic blend or the patchy drying on synthetic fibres, especially when hanging in the form of curtains. It has been found that below a certain pH (but above the pH at which fabric degradation can occur) absorption of the inhibiting salts upon synthetic fibres is facilitated.

Preferably component (b) comprises area, acetamide or propionamide. Conveniently component (a) comprises at least one ammonium salt chosen from monammonium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, ammonium sulphate, ammonium bromide, ammonium chloride, ammonium iodide and ammonium sulphamate.

Suitably component (a) may represent 9.5 to 15.5 percent by weight of the composition, component (b) may represent 2.0 to 3.0 percent by weight of the composition and the concentration of the acid in the composition may be 1.5 to 2.0 percent by weight.

Usually the acid is a mineral acid, for instance sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid or alternatively it may be an organic acid having a pH of less than 7, e.g. acetic acid.

Preferred specific ingredients and preferred ranges of concentrations are set out as follows:

Advantageously the range of components is:

The invention is illustrated by way of the following examples of preferred compositions illustrative of the invention:

A sample of 402/sq.yd. 50/50 cotton polyester was sprayed with a composition illustrative of the invention to give 80-100% wet pick up of the solution. After air drying the sample passed the flammability standards before washing of:

BS 3120 when tested by method of BS 3119

NFPA 701 (small scale)

The composition used in this Example was:

A sample of 802/sq.yd. pile faced fabric (cotton base, synthetic pile) was sprayed with a composition to give 80-100% wet pick up of the solution. After air drying the sample passed the flammability standards before washing of:

BS 3120 when tested by method of BS 3119

NFPA 701 (small scale)

The composition used in this Example was:

A sample of 2 to 3 ox/sq.yd nylon (as per parachute fabric) was sprayed with a composition to give 80 to 100% wet pick up of the solution. After air drying the sample passed the flammability standards before washing of:

BS 3120 when tested by method of BS 3119

NFPA 701 (small scale).

The composition used in this Example was:

The preferred pH value is 3 to 4.5. Without the addition of acid the Ph would be about 6 to 7.