Thermal decomposition reactions of cotton fabric treated with piperazine-phosphonates derivatives as a flame retardant

• Two flame retardants were prepared and engrafted on the cotton fabrics.
• Different analytical techniques were employed to study the mechanism of thermal decomposition of the control and treated fabrics.
• The evolved gases from the control are products of the depolymerization of cotton cellulose.
• Treated fabrics release products which come from the thermal decomposition of flame retardants with less products of the cotton cellulose.

There has been a great scientific interest in exploring the great potential of the piperazine-phosphonates in flame retardant (FR) application on cotton fabric by investigating the thermal decomposition of cotton fabric treated with them. This research tries to understand the mode of action of the two piperazine-phosphonates derivatives on cotton fabric. The investigation proceeds by preparing Tetraethyl piperazine-1,4-diyldiphosphonate (TEPP) and Diethyl 4-methyl piperazin-1-ylphosphoramidate (DEPP), engrafting them on cotton fabric and studying their mechanism of thermal degradation on fabric. In studying the mechanism, we learned the chemical functional groups of the chemicals on the surface of the treated fabrics and of the evolved gases produced thermogravimetrically and pyrolytically by using different analytical techniques such as attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR), thermogravimetric analysis–Fourier transform infrared (TGA–FTIR) spectroscopy and pyrolysis-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). The experiment's results showed some distinctive details in the thermal degradation of the fabric when applied with these additives.