Materials engineering for surface-confined flame retardancy

A Comparative Analysis of Nanoparticle Adsorption as Fire-Protection Approach for Fabrics

“…Cone calorimetry (fire testing technology, FTT) was employed to investigate the combustion behavior of square samples (100 × 100 × 0.5 mm 3 ) under an irradiative heat flux of 35 kW/m 2 in a horizontal configuration, following the procedure described elsewhere [18]. The fabrics were placed in a sample holder and maintained in the correct configuration by a metallic grid.…”

“…This analytical comparison deals with new results as well as preliminary data already published [9,18] and collected only by the authors of the manuscript.…”

“…On the other hand, some of the latter have been found to be toxic, bio-accumulative, and even carcinogenic [15]. Over the last few years, the use of nanoparticles in the flame-retardancy field has shown encouraging results and seems to be a valid alternative, in particular when applied as coatings on fabric surfaces [16][17][18]. In addition, the low amount of nanoparticles normally employed (<1-2 wt%) can be seen as a great advantage.…”

“…Furthermore, the procedure by which the nanoparticles can be deposited onto textile fibers or fabrics must be considered fundamental and pivotal for a possible industrial application. With this purpose, different approaches can be used: indeed, nanoparticles can be directly synthesized in situ on the fibers and fabric surfaces through techniques such as sol-gel processes, or alternatively, preformed nanoparticles can be deposited on the fabric surface by using new approaches like Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly or nanoparticle adsorption [14,18,19]. In the latter case, both natural and synthetic fabrics are initially impregnated with stable aqueous suspensions of nanoparticles and subsequently thermally treated; this process mimicking the typical impregnation/exhaustion procedure currently employed in the wet processing textile industries for conferring numerous properties to fabrics.…”

Study of PET fibres modified with phosphorus–silicon retardants

“…Flame-retardant compounds containing Cl and Br, which have been applied so far, are very effective but, as they release toxic gases (HCl, HBr) and corrosive fumes, their use is being limited to polymers [14][15][16][17][18]. In recent years, much research has been done to find flame retardants free of halogen atoms.…”