Durable flame retardant polyacrylonitrile fabric via UV-induced grafting polymerization and surface chemical modification

Recent Advancements in Acrylic Fabric Applications: A Comprehensive Review and Future Trends

Acrylic fibres, as synthetic polymers, have been used extensively in the textile industry to create a wide variety of products, ranging from apparel and home furnishings to car rooftops and carbon fibres. Their widespread application is attributed to a combination of desirable properties, including a soft, wool-like texture, chemical stability, and robust mechanical characteristics. Furthermore, the chemical structure of acrylic fibres can be modified to imbue them with additional features, such as antimicrobial properties, fire resistance, conductivity, water repellency, and ultraviolet protection. This review explores the technological methods employed to functionalise acrylic fibres and discusses future trends in their development.

Nitrogen and phosphorous doped graphene quantum dots: Excellent flame retardants and smoke suppressants for polyacrylonitrile nanocomposites

Nitrogen (N-GQD) as well as nitrogen and phosphorous co-doped (NP-GQD) graphene quantum dots were demonstrated as novel, low cost, green and highly effective flame retardants and smoke suppressants for polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanocomposites. The N-GQD and NP-GQD samples were synthesized by hydrothermal method with citric acid as the main reactant. For the first time, the flame retardant and smoke suppressant properties of the NP-GQD were studied. The GQDs were introduced into PAN by solvent blending route. Subsequently, thermal stability, flame retardancy, fire behavior, fire hazard and structure of the residual char were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), UL-94 vertical burning test, cone calorimetry, FE-SEM, and Raman spectroscopy. Results showed that both PAN/N-GQD and PAN/NP-GQD nanocomposites had higher flame retardancy and smoke suppressant behavior in addition to lower fire hazard properties than neat PAN. Furthermore, the residual chars for the nanocomposite samples were increased in comparison to the neat PAN. The improvements were even more significant in case of the PAN/NP-GQD due to the synergistic effect of nitrogen and phosphorous. The improvements were mainly ascribed to the ability of the N-GQD and NP-GQD to provide stronger and larger protective char barrier layers, which was even more pronounced in case of the NP-GQD.

Fabrication of Chitosan-Based Intumescent Flame Retardant Coating for Improving Flame Retardancy of Polyacrylonitrile Fabric

In order to improve the flame retardancy of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fabrics, glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was first grafted onto the surface of PAN fabric (PAN-g-GMA) by means of UV-induced photo grafting polymerization process. Then, PAN-g-GMA was chemically grafted with chitosan to obtain a bigrafted PAN fabric (PAN-g-GMA-g-CS). Finally, the flame-retardant PAN fabric (FR-PAN) was prepared by phosphorylation. The structure and elemental analysis of the samples were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The thermal degradation properties and combustion characteristics of the fabrics were accessed by thermogravimetric analysis (TG), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and cone calorimeter (CC). The results show that the onset thermal decomposition temperature of FR-PAN fabric is lower than that of the control sample due to the degradation of the grafting groups. The combustion test indicates that the FR-PAN fabric has an excellent flame-retardant property and the combustion rate is significantly reduced. In addition, the char residue of the burned FR-PAN fabric is over 97%, indicating excellent char-forming ability.