engleski

Cotton Work Vests – Flame Retardancy, UV Protection and Handle

Cotton and other cellulose textiles are the most flammable materials used for protective clothing, accounting for more than 60% of the world annual consumption. Because of the usefulness of cotton and its blends it is the most commonly used textile material in the design and production of protective clothing. Very important is the high application of these materials in work vests. This paper will discuss fabric flammability, UV protection and some handle characteristics after some stages of cotton pretreatment and finishing. Natural zeolites under the name of clinoptilolite are crystalline aluminosilicates with a unique adsorption, cation exchange and catalytic properties that have multiple uses in industry and agriculture. They can absorb, but mostly scatter the UV-R. For such purpose dyed cotton fabric for work vests has been treated with zeolite added to traditional flame retardant finishing. It is well known that a high concentration of flame retardants have negative effects on fabric handle and color. For such a reason different concentrations of traditional phosphonic compound were used. In the case of using less than 50%, fabric handle was much better and zeolite contributed to better flame retardancy. For such purpose frictional properties of cotton fabrics were accessed using a new method for measuring the friction coefficient ( kin). As a final conclusion, cotton fabrics show high protective properties even after 3 washing cycles.

cotton; flame retardancy; UV protection; fabric handle

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