Improved flame retardant and hydrophilic properties of polyamide 66 textiles
Scientists have developed a hybrid coating via few bi-layers deposition and sol-gel process. This coating improved the flame retardant and hydrophilic properties of PA66 fabrics.
A hybrid methodology, including a few layer deposition of bio-based polyelectrolytes, chitosan (CS) and phytic acid (PA), along with a sol-gel treatment from (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) and boron doped APTES sol solutions, was followed in constructing a flame retardant and hydrophilic coating onto polyamide 66 (PA66) fabric surfaces.
Layer by layer (LbL) assembled and simultaneously sol-gel treated PA66 fabric samples (i.e., PA66-5BL-APTES and PA66-5BL-B-d-APTES) could be able to stop the melt-dripping in vertical burning test.
Improved thermal stability
The boron doped APTES sol treated fabric samples with a 2–5 bi-layers deposition showed a reduced peak heat release rate (pHRR) (i.e., 22–30 % reduction) in cone calorimetry test and revealed improved thermal stability in thermogravimetric analysis test. More interestingly, the boron doped silica sol could boost up the hydrophilicity of the treated fabrics significantly compared to only LbL and simultaneously LbL deposited and silica sol treated fabric samples. Furthermore, only the 5 bi-layers deposited and concurrently sol-gel treated fabric samples exhibited durable flame retardant behavior after laundering.
The study has been published in Progress in Organic Coatings, Volume 129, April 2019.
Image source: Pixabay.
Event tip
At the European Coatings Seminar on 22 May im Amsterdam you will discover the underlying chemistries of fire-retardant coatings. This seminar provides a comprehensive overview of current European fire standards and laws.
