Study on the preparation and flame retardant properties of an eco-friendly potassium-calcium carrageenan fiber.

Potassium-calcium carrageenan fibers were prepared in an eco-friendly fashion by wet spinning method. The forming process and flame retardant properties of this fiber compared with the traditional barium carrageenan fibers were studied in this paper. The results showed that the potassium ions were combined with the sulfate group in the carrageenan by ion bonding that made the potassium-calcium carrageenan fibers form a gel structure, which was a relative loose spatial network, while barium ions reacted with the sulfate groups of carrageenan to induce barium carrageenan fibers form a precipitated structure, which was a relative close spatial network. The limiting oxygen index, cone calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry tests implied that K+-Ca2+ affected the pyrolysis behavior of potassium-calcium carrageenan fibers and catalyzed it to produce different pyrolysis products from Ba2+ in barium carrageenan fibers. In addition, the pyrolysis mechanism of potassium-calcium carrageenan fibers was elucidated in this paper.