Among all fire hazards, textilesgetting burnt are more due to its widespread use. Majority of fire accidentsare associated with the burning of textiles. Cellulosics that is commonly usedin garments are comfortable, but are more prone to inflammability. The weightand weave of the fabrics also decides its inflammability. Heavy and tight wovenfabrics burn slowly than loosely woven fabrics. Flammability is important,particularly for textiles. A retardant finish is given to fabrics to prevent itfrom getting burnt.
Flame retardant materials can beeffectively applied to both natural as well as synthetic fibres. Fibres aretreated with a chemical which minimizes the fabrics flammability and makes italmost non-combustible. When a fire occurs, the chemical coated on the fabricreacts with the gases and tars generated by the fabric. It converts the gasesand tars to carbon char, and ultimately slows down the burning speed of thefabric.
Variousfire-retardant materials used in clothing:
Pyrovatex fr cotton
Dale Antiflame
Indura fr cotton
Technora
Teijinconex
Lenzing FR (fire retardant Rayon)
Carbon X
Fire retardant fabrics are usedin a variety of applications like industrial work wear, uniforms for firefighters, air force pilots, tent and parachute fabric, professional motorracing apparel etc to protect the wearer against fires, and electrical arcsetc. They are mostly used in interior materials like curtains, in hotels,hospitals and theaters. Materials like Twaron are used in fabrics to withstandhigh temperature in industry like fire fighting. Materials like aluminum hydroxideare commonly used as fire retardant as it gives three way protection. Itbreaks down to give off water vapor, and further absorbs much heat, therebycooling the material and the residue of alumina and forms a protective layer.
Flame retardancy of a fabricdepends on the number of times; the fabric is dry cleaned, and theenvironmental conditions in which the fabric is used. The fire retardantproperties of a finished fabric are normally tested by using addon, tensilestrength, LOI-value, and vertical flame test determinations.
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