4 - High performance textiles for heat and fire protection

Abstract

The principles of textiles requiring the properties of heat and fire protection are introduced within the context of the fundamental physical and chemical characteristics of component fibres and textile fabrics coupled with the underlying fire science requirements to understand the main textile design issues required. The large range of high performance fibres available for fire resistant end-uses is discussed in terms of generic chemical differences including the need for thermoset, totally aromatic or inorganic (ceramic) structures. The need for and types of fire resistant coatings and treatments are also introduced. Of especial relevance are the evolving technologies for conferring heat and fire resistance and these include the use of intumescent treatments and the potential usefulness of nanotechnologies, which has received much attention at the research level during the last 10years. Typical applications of heat and fire resistant textiles are those where regulations usually demand their use and these include protective clothing, contract and domestic furnishing fabrics, fire barrier textiles (e.g. theatre fire curtains, insulative textiles) and military applications and, in particular, many textiles used in mass transport systems, such as commercial airlines, luxury cruise liners and the current generation of fast trains. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of two projects undertaken in the author’s laboratories that illustrates two recent challenges posed by the needs of the commercial aerospace industry. The first outlines how decorative textiles comprising very expensive and aesthetically valued fabrics might be rendered fire resistant to the levels required by the regulations and yet preserve their exotic characteristics. The second shows how the development of textile composites for use as an acoustic and fire resistant barrier was successfully undertaken to meet the stringent and new international regulatory requirements for commercial airliner fuselage fire requirements.