Abstract
This work is focused on the functionalization of flax fibers aiming to improve their flame retardancy by grafting a phosphorus-based flame retardant (FR), dimethyl(methacryloxy) methyl phosphonate (MAPC1). The pre-irradiation method [1], [2] was used, and the grafting process follows three main steps namely: the irradiation of flax fibers, the impregnation of irradiated fibers in FR solution and finally a washing step to remove unreacted monomer units and free oligomers and polymers chains not covalently bonded to the flax structure. The presence of radicals on the flax fibers after irradiation was confirmed by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance. Grafting efficiency was assessed by infrared spectroscopy and quantified using Inductively Coupled Plasma. The location of the grafted phosphorus polymer chains was assessed by Scanning Electron Microscope coupled with Energy Dispersive X-ray spectrometer using phosphorus mapping of modified fibers. The effect of phosphorus grafting on thermal properties and fire behavior of flax fibers was studied using thermogravimetric analysis, pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry and cone calorimetry. Different parameters were studied such as the radiation dose, the temperature and the duration of the grafting reaction and the monomer concentration. In particular, it was observed that MAPC1 was grafted in a homogeneous way into the bulk of the elementary flax fibers leading to high phosphorus rate of around 2 wt% for a dose 10 kGy and up to 7 wt% for a dose 100 kGy leading to high charring and low flammable fibers.