Flame Retardancy of Wool Fabric with Zirconium Oxychloride Optimized by Central Composite Design

In this study, the effect of zirconium oxychloride (ZrOCl2) with different concentrations of citric and formic acids on the flame-retardant properties of wool is assessed by thermal analysis, mass loss, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) and the vertical flame. Scanning electron micrographs have been prepared to observe and compare the surface morphology of the raw and treated samples. It has been observed that the ZrOCl2 exhausted onto wool and the flame retardancy natural markedly improved. The wool treated with the flame-retardant agents show an increase in the temperature of decomposition and residual mass and LOI compared with the untreated wool. The central composite design (CCD) is used for the experimental design with four variables. The statistical analysis confirmed the optimum conditions obtained by the experimental results, in which the processing optimized at 94.9 degrees C with 9.74% zirconium oxychloride, 9.6% citric acid, and 6.3% formic acid.