Textile flame retardancy through surface-assembled nanoarchitectures

Single step and multi-step adsorption processes have been investigated in order to enhance flame retardancy of poly(ethylene terephthalate) fabrics and their blends with cotton. The first strategy concerns single step nanoparticle adsorption in a finishing-like process upon plasma surface activation. This approach aims at evaluating the effectiveness of nanoparticle simple adsorption on fabric combustion properties and the enhancement promoted by the plasma surface activation performed at different processing conditions. Subsequently, the layer by layer assembly technique has been investigated as an evolution of the nanoparticle adsorption. This technique, which consists in a multi-step adsorption process, allows the build-up of coatings made of different kinds of nanoparticles and polymers, each one bearing a specific functionality. By using the multi-step approach, hybrid organic-inorganic or completely inorganic coatings have been deposited on selected fabrics and subjected to flammability and combustion tests.