Flame-retardant cotton barrier nonwovens for mattresses

Abstract

According to regulation CPSC 16 CFR 1633, every new residential mattress sold in the United States since July 2007 must resist ignition by open flame. An environmentally benign “green,” inexpensive way to meet this regulation is to use a low-cost flame-retardant barrier fabric. In this study, a nonwoven fabric of grey unbleached cotton was treated with a low-cost phosphate-based formulation. The energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis showed uniform nitrogen and phosphorus distribution. With 17% add-on, the flame-retardant unbleached cotton barrier showed a limiting oxygen index of 33% oxygen and 83 mm of char length with no after-flame and no afterglow in the vertical flame test. Under air and nitrogen at 500°C, 24% and 35% char remained after thermogravimetric analyses, respectively. This flame resistance is comparable to that of current commercial barrier fabrics made from bleached cotton and Flovan cyanoguanidine or from T-bond grey cotton fiber highlofts (Jones Fiber). Mattresses constructed with a flame-retardant cotton nonwoven barrier fabric are predicted to meet the requirements of 16CFR1633. As a follow-up to this study, a full-scale mattress burn test is recommended.