Production process for new sustainable flame-retardant polyamide 6 textile filaments
Image source: Jelena Vasiljević
Publish Date: 19.12.2019
Category: Outstanding research achievements, Interdisciplinary research, Our contribution to sustainable development goals
Sustainable development goals: 9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure (Indicators)
The nanocomposite PA6/PHED is highly important for the production of high-technology technical textiles with high added value and PA6 plastic mass with reduced concentrations of flame-retardant additives. The innovation is also important in terms of sustainable development, since PA6 is one of the rare synthetic polymers that can be recycled through depolymerisation to a monomer.
Authors: Jelena Vasiljević, Barbara Simončič, Andrej Demšar, Barbara Golja, Mirjam Leskovšek, Vili Bokušek
Researchers from the University of Ljubljana Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering (Jelena Vasiljević, Barbara Simončič, Andrej Demšar, Barbara Golja, Mirjam Leskovšek, Vili Bokušek) collaborated with researchers from the Chemistry Institute (Marija Čolović, Ivan Jerman, Matic Šobak) to develop a new production process for the sustainable fibre-forming polyamide 6 (PA6) with an incorporated organophosphorus compound (PHED) and the first self-extuinguishing flame-retardant PA6/PHED textile filaments.
PA6 is one of the most important raw materials for the production of high-performance textile fibres, but its use is limited due to its high flammability. Despite the quite successful production of halogen-free flame-retardant plastic products, the development of flame-retardant PA6 textile fibres remains a challenging research task, as can be seen in the fact that they are still not available in the market.
The manufacturing process includes incorporating a PHED compound into the polymer matrix during the polymerisation process, the conditions of which are adjusted for industrial production. The high stability of the nanocomposite PA6/PHED and the uniform distribution of nanodistributed PHED in the PA6 matrix enable maximum flame-retardant effects even at low concentrations of the PHED compound, with minimal impact on the physical and mechanical properties of the filament yarn.
Sources: Vasiljević J., Čolović M., Jerman I., Simončič B., Demšar A., Samaki Y., Šobak M., Šest E., Golja B., Leskovšek M., Bukošek V., Medved J., Barbalini M., Malucelli G., Bolka S. In situ prepared polyamide 6/DOPO-derivative nanocomposite for melt-spinning of flame retardant textile filaments. Polym. Degrad. Stabil., 166 (2019), 50-59.
Jerman I., Čolović M., Vasiljević J., Simončič B., Šehić A., Demšar A. (2018) Method for the preparation of a polyamide 6 copolymer and filaments, flame retardant polyamide 6 copolymer and copolymer filaments. European Patent Application No. 18.180251.3