Nanoclay as Thermal Barrier in Coating Intumescent Formulations for Flame Retardant Cotton Fabric

Industrial growths during the last century have led to the use of cellulosics for everyday household and office items (e.g. furniture, fabrics, automotive parts, housings for electronic equipment etc). But high flammability of such materials means that their occurrence could create a fire risk and hazard. Therefore, required fire safety standard needs the materials to be flame retarded. In the present study, the intumescent formulation containing ammonium polyphosphate, melamine, pentaerythritol and nanoclay was used for coating the cotton fabric to make it flame retarded. Thermal analysis in nitrogen atmosphere was carried out to study the thermal behaviour of coated fabric. Limiting oxygen index (LOI) study was also carried out to evaluate the flammability behaviour of the cotton fabric. Char yield of cotton fabric was found increased from 12.8 to 27.4% on coating with Intumescents containing nanoclay at 600 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. The LOI value for cotton fabric increased from 18 to 22.1% on coating with intumescent-nanoclay formulation.