| The polyester fabrics are normally used as the raw material of most tents. In order to obtain a good rain-repellent and anti-hydraulic performance, the water-repellent finishing is necessary for polyester fabrics. Also, the flame-retardant performance of the polyester tents is particularly important for the protecting of personal safety and the flame-retardant finishing is needed for polyester fabrics.The conventional flame retardants mainly used for polyester fabrics are halogen-containing compounds such as chlorinated paraffin, pentabromophenyl ether and so on, but with the social progress and the awareness of environmental protection increased, the fumes, toxic gases released when halogen-containing flame retardants combustion and the serious corrosion problems run counter to the needs of the society. The halogen-containing flame retardants are being abandoned globally, especially in Europe. Therefore, it is inevitable to carry on the study of the halogen free flame-retardant finishing for polyester fabrics, in order to enhance the added value of tents and benefit the products to enter into the European market.In this paper the water-repellent finishing for three different types of polyester fabrics were studied. The water-repellent properties of three types of polyester fabrics finished with water-repellent agent AG-7500 and the influence of the water-repellent agent to flame-retardant polyester were discussed.The industrial products such as the water-soluble halogen free cyclio-phosphate flame retardant FR-102A, the solvent-type halogen free phosphate flame retardant Nofire IS-115, Nofire-EP102 and the composites of the halogen free intumescent flame retardants were selected by experiments as the halogen free flame retardants. Three different types of polyester fabrics were finished by water-repellent agent and flame retardant in one bath process or two steps process in which firstly water-repellent finishing, then flame-retardant coating finishing.After the composite finishing, the water-repellent grade of the thin polyester fabrics was above 4 and in the vertical combustion tests the continued burning time lasted 0 second; the water-repellent grade of the medium and the thick polyester fabrics were above 4 and in the vertical combustion tests the continued burning time were less than 4 seconds.Finally the flame-retardant mechanism was discussed using the thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), the limiting oxygen index method and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis respectively.The experiment results indicated three different types of polyester fabrics finished by AG-7500 could satisfy the water-repellent requirements and the adverse influence of water-repellent finishing by AG-7500 on the combustion properties of three different types of original polyester fabrics and flame-retardant finished fabrics. The LOI value of 600D×600D thick original polyester fabrics was 27.3, but the LOI value dropped to 17.9 after the polyester fabrics water-repellent finished with 1.5 percent concentration of water-repellent agent AG-7500.The medium and the thick polyester fabrics could be finished by the technology of the water-soluble halogen free cyclo-phosphate flame retardant FR-102A and water-repellent agent AG-7500 in one bath method. The 600D×600D thick polyester fabrics finished with 1.5 percent concentration of water-repellent agent AG-7500,220g/L amount of the FR-102A could satisfy the requirements and the LOI value increased to 24.6. The coating technology of halogen free intumescent flame retardant composites was suitable for thin polyester fabrics, but there was a color problem and the composite components needed a fine dispersing treatment. The attachment of the solvent-type halogen free phosphate flame retardant Nofire IS-115 and Nofire-EP102 of 11.8 percent and 8.65 percent respectively in the 600D×600D thick polyester fabrics could achieved the flame-retardant requirement and the LOI value increased to 25.8 and 23.2 respectively.The research results obtained in selecting of halogen free flame retardants, the formula and the technology optimizing of the water-repellent and flame-retardant composite finishing would provide certain technical support for polyester fabric finishing factory for tents production. |
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