Cotton and its blended fabrics are
widely used textile
materials
in daily life; however, their high flammability brings serious fire
hazards. It remains a huge challenge to endow cotton and its blended
fabrics through simple and universal technology. In this work, a novel
water-based polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) coating was developed from
chitosan and a water treatment agent (amino trimethylphosphonic acid).
By controlling the degree of ion pair aggregation through pH adjustment,
the intumescent and stable PEC coating can be constructed quickly
via facile blading coating and curing processes. High transparency
allows for the deposition of the coating with little effect on the
original pattern of the coated fabric. Additionally, when the coated
fabrics were exposed to flame, the PEC coating underwent a quick self-char-forming
reaction in advance and formed a protective char layer covered on
the fibers. Thus, the PEC coating with low adding-on (11.5–21.5
wt %) shows universally high flame retardancy for cotton, polyester/cotton
blends, and polyester/poly(vinyl alcohol)/cotton blends. The coated
fabrics show excellent extinguishing performances, high limiting oxygen
index values of 27.5%–28.5%, and total release smoke inhibition
of 42%. This work provides a promising universal technology for manufacturing
fire-safety cotton and its blends in a simple and eco-friendly way.
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