Development of flame retardant cotton and acrylic blend textile fabric finish with Enset pseudostem sap Bekinew Kitaw Dejene and Terefe Belachew Fenta Department of Textile Engineering, Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, and Chirato Godana Korra Department of Textile Chemistry, Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia Abstract Purpose – The potential for burn injuries arises from contact with a hot surface, flame, hot liquid and steam hazards. The purpose of this study is to develop the flame retardant acrylic and cotton blend textile finished with Enset Ventricosum pseudostem sap (EPS). Design/methodology/approach – The two fabric was produced from (30% acrylic with 70% cotton) and (35% acrylic with 65% cotton) blend. The extracted sap was made alkaline and applied on two mordanted blend fabrics. The effect of blend ratio, the concentration of EPS and treatment time on flammability, Flame retardant properties of both the control and the treated fabrics were analyzed in terms of vertical flammability based on the design of the experiment software using central composite design. The air permeability and tensile strength of treated and controlled fabric were measured. Findings – The blended fabrics at different blended ratios were flame retardant with an optimized result of burning time 2.902 min and 2.775 min and char length 6.442 cm and 7.332 cm in the warp and weft direction, respectively, at a concentration of 520 ml and time 33.588 min. There was a slight signi ficant change in mechanical strengths and air permeability. The thermal degradation and the pyrolysis of the fabric samples were studied using thermogravimetric analysis and the chemical composition by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy abbreviated as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The wash durability of the treated fabric at different blend ratios was carried out for the optimized sample and the test result shows that the flame retardancy property is durable up to 15 washes. Originality/value – Development of flame retardant cotton and acrylic blend textile fabric finish with ESP was studied; this work provides application of EPS for flame resistance which is optimized statically and successfully applied for a flame retardant property on cotton-acrylic blend fabric. Keywords Flame retardant, Experimental, Woven fabric, Acrylic/cotton blend fabric, Enset pseudostem sap, Wash durability, Central composite design Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction Fire-retardant fabrics are textiles that are more resistant to fire than others through chemical treatment or manufactured as fireproof fiber (Zhang et al., 2015). The authors would like to show special thanks to Bahir dar University, Ethiopian Institute of Textile and Fashion Technology, Textile Chemistry Research and Innovation Center for providing necessary materials and instruments for the laboratory work. The authors also thank Bahir Dar Textile Share Company for fulfilling materials and other necessary data, which helped a great deal for the research work. Enset pseudostem sap 189 Received 26 June 2021 Revised 15 September 2021 16 October 2021 30 October 2021 Accepted 6 December 2021 Research Journal of Textile and Apparel Vol. 27 No. 2, 2023 pp. 189-215 © Emerald Publishing Limited 1560-6074 DOI 10.1108/RJTA-06-2021-0082 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1560-6074.htm