Improving the flame retardant properties of polyester‐cotton blend fabrics by introducing an intumescent coating via layer by layer assembly

Abstract

Layer by layer (LBL) assembly technique was used to deposit multilayer coating containing phosphorus‐nitrogen onto the surface of fibers to improve the flame retardancy of polyester‐cotton (PET‐COT) blended fabric. Ellipsometer results confirmed that polyallylamine hydrochloride (PAH), melamine (MEL), and ammonium polyphosphate (APP) grew linearly on silicon wafer during the LbL process. The LOI value of coated PET‐COT fabric was increased from 20.8% of pristine fabric to 28.4% by the presence of about 9 wt% coating. Besides, this intumescent nanocoated PET‐COT fabric was self‐distinguished during the vertical burning test. Thermogravimetric analysis under both nitrogen and air atmosphere revealed that the initial degradation temperature of the coated sample was decreased and the char residue amount was significantly improved during combustion. The flame resistance performance evaluation by pyrolysis combustion flow calorimeter indicated that this coating effectively reduced the peak heat release rate of PET‐COT matrix. The scanning electron micrographs of char residue demonstrated that the char formation in the condensed phase and free radical caption in the gas phase was responsible for the improved flame retardancy. It is suggested this unique facile coating technology with low cycles and high efficiency has great potential to produce commercially available flame retardant polymeric‐cotton blend fabrics.

Application of Silver-Loaded Halloysite Nanotubes in Flame Retardant and Smoke-Suppressive Coating for Polyester-Cotton Fabric

“…The pyrolysis of PC fabric under nitrogen was divided into two stages: the first stage corresponds to the degradation of cotton fabric at 300–370 °C, and the second stage corresponds to the degradation of polyester fabric at 370–490 °C . Similar to that in air, the coated PC fabric degrades earlier due to the early decomposition of DPEA and TAEP in the coating, and the carbon layer formed greatly improves the thermal stability of PC fabric at high temperature because of its catalytic dehydration and carbon formation and the isolation effect of Ag@HNTs coating.…”

“…To date, there have been several common surface modification methods for flame retardants of PC fabric including the impregnation method, sol–gel method, , layer-by-layer self-assembly method, spray method, plasma method, and UV curing method . Among these methods, UV curing technology has many unique advantages, such as simple process, low energy consumption, little damage to materials, easy industrialization, long-term stability of grafting chain, and eco-friendliness.…”

Layer-by-Layer Deposition: A Promising Environmentally Benign Flame-Retardant Treatment for Cotton, Polyester, Polyamide and Blended Textiles

“…Fabric treated with PAH-ME/APP self-extinguished, with a char length of 11.3 cm in VFTs and with an LOI value of 28.4%. The pHRR was reduced by 34.4%, with a 9 wt% coating [145]. The same group of authors pre-treated cotton/polyester fabric with 0.1 wt% anionic PAA and then immersed it into a 0.5 wt% cationic BPEI solution and a 1 wt% or 2 wt% anionic hypophosphorous acid-modified chitosan (PCH) solution, depositing 10 and 20 BLs.…”

Functionalization of PET with Phosphazene Grafted Graphene Oxide for Synthesis, Flammability, and Mechanism

“…Therefore, enhancing the flame-retardant properties of PET is becoming a critical problem and has attracted great attention in recent decades [ 6 , 7 ]. Many reliable flame retardants, strategies and methods for suppressing fires have been developed by delaying the ignition or decreasing the release of heat and smoke [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. Different types of fillers such as clay [ 14 ], silica [ 15 , 16 , 17 ] and metal oxide nanoparticles [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ] have been incorporated into the PET matrix, which can achieve better flame-retardant, but the effect depends mainly on the type and the contents of the particles used most of which would destroy the mechanical properties.…”