Developments in flame retardant textiles - a review

The many, and varied flame retardant chemistries researched, and developed during the 1950-1980 period for improving the fire performance of both natural and chemical fibres have not been significantly added to during the last 25 years or so. This is a consequence of increasing commercial demands in terms of cost-effectiveness coupled with increasing concerns for the environmental and general toxicological character of these materials, and treatments. The only real exception to this is the recent inclusion of functionalised nanoclays into polymers which has been found to improve fire performance in terms of reduced peak heat release rates. This review considers recent developments which have tried to increase the efficiency of known chemistry to enhance char formation by intumescent action on the one hand with the effect of inclusion of nanoclays on the other. Consideration is also given to recent attempts to replace antimony-bromine formulations in textile back-coatings by phosphorus-based species. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.