AASCIT Journal of Materials 2015; 1(4): 98-110 Published online November 10 2015 (http://www.aascit.org/journal/materials) Keywords Sulfamates, Urea, Fire - Retardant Finish, Jute Fabric, Limiting Oxygen Index, Char Length, Fire Protective Textiles Received: August 31, 2015 Revised: September 23, 2015 Accepted: September 25, 2015 Fire-retardant Chemical Finishing of Jute Fabric Using Sulfamate and Urea Mixture Ashis Kumar Samanta 1 , Reetuparna Bhattacharyya (Roy) 1 , Ranjana Chowdhury 2 1 Department of Jute and Fibre Technology, Institute of Jute Technology, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India 2 Department of Chemical Engg., Jadavpur University, Subodh Mallick Road, Kolkata, West Bengal, India Email address ijtaksamanta@hotmail.com (A. K. Samanta), reetuparna.roy83@gmail.com (R. Bhattacharyya (Roy)), ranjana.juchem@gmail.com (R. Chowdhury) Citation Ashis Kumar Samanta, Reetuparna Bhattacharyya (Roy), Ranjana Chowdhury. Fire-retardant Chemical Finishing of Jute Fabric Using Sulfamate and Urea Mixture. AASCIT Journal of Materials. Vol. 1, No. 4, 2015, pp. 98-110. Abstract Most of the commercially used fire-retardant agents like THPC/APO etc., are not eco - friendly for release of formaldehyde or other toxicity. Hence, an attempt is made, to find newer eco-friendly fire-retardant formulations for jute fabrics. The effect of ammonium sulfamate alone & in presence of urea was studied for the fire-retardant performance of the jute fabric as protective textiles. It is found that the Limiting Oxygen Index (LOI) of Jute Fabric is significantly improved by application of these simple fire-retardant agents. The fire-retardant performance of each formulation is investigated at different concentration levels in terms of LOI value, flame spread time, afterglow time, char length (on the basis of vertical flammability test) and changes in tenacity, bending length etc.. Most of the fire- retardant formulations showed high fire-retardant performance showing LOI value in the range of 35 - 38. However, all the above fire-retardant finished fabric showed loss of nearly 20 - 30% of LOI value on repeated soap washing. So the use of acrylic/Poly - carboxylic binder like Arkofix NEC Plus Liq. (from Clariant India Pvt. Ltd) was studied which improves its wash stability upto 5 wash cycles. Loss of tenacity on such fire-retardant treatment was around 15 - 50% in different cases. DSC & TGA analysis of untreated and said chemically treated jute fabric with different fire - retardant formulations show that residue left at 500°C is more than that of untreated jute indicating higher thermal protection. FTIR analysis and SEM - study of fire-retardant treated jute fabric were also studied and reported. These fire-retardant jute fabrics has industrial protective textile application as Brattice Cloth in mines and many other potential field of applications, such as fire-retardant kitchen apron, furnishings for public Hall/Theater/Hospital etc. 1. Introduction Jute, like all natural textile fibers has a higher proneness to burning, though LOI value of untreated jute (20.5) is higher than the LOI value of cotton (15.5). So jute based home furnishings/ Pandal clothes, wrapping hessian cloth and brattice cloth for mines which are made up of jute can ignite slowly (slower than cotton) and enhance development of fire by burning its cellulose part forming higher Levoglucosan, a flammable compound. Jute is a ligno-cellulosic fibre with hemicellulose (22 - 24%), α - cellulose (58 - 60%)