Intelligent polyester fabric with fire safety for personal temperature management

Abstract

The stability of personal thermal management are increasingly indispensable in modern society due to the growing demand for energy savings and environmental protection. Herein, inspired by solid–liquid host–guest materials, we propose a coating preparation strategy that uses a solid flame-retardant gel as the host skeleton filled by a solid–liquid switchable phase change flame-retardant functional guest, thus fabricating smart polyester fabrics for personal temperature management in one step. Both attenuated total reflectance (ATR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to confirm the host–guest structure coating on the surface of polyester fabric. Results from simulated cold and heating environments show that the coated polyester fabric has a desirable personal temperature regulation ability. The skin wrapped by the coated polyester fabric presents a higher temperature compared with bare polyester fabric, in simulated cold conditions. Meanwhile, in heating conditions, the internal temperature of the coated polyester fabric is 5.2 oC lower than that of the bare polyester fabric. Furthermore, the coated polyester fabric exhibits excellent flame retardancy in the combustion test, with a horizontal burning rate of 85.7 mm/min and a peak of heat release rate (PHRR) reduction of 52.8 %, attributed to higher graphitization degree and suppressed pyrolysis products. For promoting the practical application, the water vapor transmission, washing resistance, and mechanical performance are also deeply studied. Hence, a phase-change flame-retardant polyester fabric constructed with a host–guest structure provides huge application potentials in various personal temperature management fields, such as snow rescue, field camping, and adventure activities.